Anthropic’s $200 million contract with the Department of Defense is up in the air after Anthropic reportedly raised concerns about the Pentagon’s use of its Claude AI model during the Nicolas Maduro raid in January.
“The Department of War’s relationship with Anthropic is being reviewed,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to Fortune. “Our nation requires that our partners be willing to help our warfighters win in any fight. Ultimately, this is about our troops and the safety of the American people.”
Tensions have escalated in recent weeks after a top Anthropic official reportedly reached out to a senior Palantir executive to question how Claude was used in the raid, per The Hill. The Palantir executive interpreted the outreach as disapproval of the model’s use in the raid and forwarded details of the exchange to the Pentagon. (President Trump said the military used a “discombobulator” weapon during the raid that made enemy equipment “not work.”)
“Anthropic has not discussed the use of Claude for specific operations with the Department of War,” an Anthropic spokeperson said in a statement to Fortune. “We have also not discussed this with, or expressed concerns to, any industry partners outside of routine discussions on strictly technical matters.”
