Anthropic refuses Pentagon request to remove restrictions on Claude AI for military use

Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company founded and led by Italian-born Dario Amodei, has refused a request from the U.S. Department of Defense to remove restrictions on its Claude chatbot for military applications.

The Pentagon sought permission to use Claude without any limitations for military purposes. Anthropic declined the request, maintaining its position even after facing threats from the Trump administration. President Donald Trump subsequently ordered all federal agencies to cease using the Claude chatbot.

Amodei stated that the company cannot in good conscience accede to the demands, according to officials. Anthropic has indicated it intends to pursue legal action in response to the government's actions.

The dispute reflects broader tensions between artificial intelligence companies and the federal government over the deployment of AI systems. While some technology firms have been willing to accommodate government requests, Anthropic has taken a different stance, positioning itself as committed to ethical constraints on its technology.

Claude has gained significant attention in the AI market. According to industry observers, the chatbot is described as more collaborative and human-like compared to competitors such as ChatGPT. The AI landscape has become increasingly competitive, with multiple players vying for dominance. ChatGPT, once considered the leading generalist model, now faces competition from China's DeepSeek, which some specialists say features a more efficient architecture with lower energy consumption and a deeper open-source approach. Google's Gemini and Elon Musk's Grok are also competing in the space. Mark Zuckerberg has launched Metaintelligence Lab, a research division, as Meta seeks to compete in the AI sector.