Technology Anthropic CEO vows to fight risk designation, insists ‘vast majority’ of customers won’t be affected by Julia Shapero - 03/05/26 9:07 PM ET by Julia Shapero - 03/05/26 9:07 PM ET Share ✕ LinkedIn LinkedIn Email Email NOW PLAYING Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said Thursday that the company would fight the Pentagon’s supply chain risk designation in court, while suggesting the “vast majority” of its customers would be unaffected. The Pentagon confirmed the designation , which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced last week, in a letter to the AI firm Wednesday, Amodei noted. “As we wrote on Friday, we do not believe this action is legally sound, and we see no choice but to challenge it in court,” the Anthropic CEO wrote in a statement Thursday night. The supply chain risk designation , which has typically been reserved for foreign adversaries, restricts defense contractors from using the company’s products. However, despite Hegseth’s initial comments, Anthropic has argued the restrictions cannot bar anyone who does business with the military from doing business with the AI firm. “The language used by the Department of War in the letter (even supposing it was legally sound) matches our statement on Friday that the vast majority of our customers are unaffected by a supply chain risk designation,” Amodei added. “With respect to our customers, it plainly applies only to the use of Claude by customers as a direct part of contracts with the Department of War, not all use of Claude by customers who have such contracts,” he continued. A Microsoft spokesperson similarly said Thursday that the company’s lawyers have “concluded that Anthropic products, including Claude, can remain available to our customers—other than the Department of War” and that it “can continue to work with Anthropic on non-defense related projects.” This could be critical for Anthropic. Experts have warned the supply chain risk designation could have wide-reaching consequences for the company’s business. Amodei also underscored Thursday that Anthropic has “been having productive conservations” with the Pentagon over the last several days about how it can continue to work with the department in ways that “adhere to our two narrow exceptions, and ways for us to ensure a smooth transition if that is not possible.” The company has argued for two restrictions on the military’s use of its technology — mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous lethal weapons. The Defense Department, by contrast, has sought language that would allow it to use the firm’s AI tools for “all lawful purposes.” The Anthropic CEO also apologized for an internal memo sent to employees last Friday, which suggested that the “real reasons” the Pentagon and Trump administration do not like the company is because they haven’t donated to the president. “Anthropic did not leak this post nor direct anyone else to do so—it is not in our interest to escalate this situation,” he said. He noted that the message was written within hours of last Friday’s events, in which President Trump directed federal agencies to stop using the company’s tools, Hegseth announced the designation and OpenAI unveiled its own deal with the Pentagon. OpenAI’s agreement to bring its AI tools to the military’s classified systems appeared to have the same two restrictions that Anthropic had requested. In the internal memo, Amodei dismissed this agreement as “’safety theater’ for the benefit of employees.” Following broad pushback to the ChatGPT maker’s initial terms, it announced additional protections Monday. “It was a difficult day for the company, and I apologize for the tone of the post,” Amodei said Thursday. “It does not reflect my careful or considered views. It was also written six days ago, and is an out-of-date assessment of the current situation.” Add as preferred source on Google Tags Pete Hegseth Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Share ✕ LinkedIn LinkedIn Email Email More Technology News See All Technology Pentagon officially informs Anthropic of supply chain risk designation by Julia Shapero and Filip Timotija 3 hours ago Technology  /  3 hours ago