President Donald Trump told CNBC on Tuesday that a deal to allow Anthropic’s artificial intelligence models to be used within the Department of Defense is “possible.”
“They came to the White House a few days ago and had a really good conversation. I think they’re starting to form,” Trump said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “I think it will help a lot because they are very smart.”
President Trump’s comments came after a high-profile conflict between the Pentagon and Antropic leaked into public view earlier this year.
In March, the Department of Defense declared Anthropic an exposed supply chain risk, meaning the company’s use of its technology poses a threat to U.S. national security. The label requires defense contractors to certify that they are not using Anthropic’s Claude AI model in their work with the military.
In a post on Truth Social, President Trump also ordered all federal agencies to “immediately cease using Anthropic’s technology,” adding that his administration “will never do business with Anthropic again.”
The Pentagon continued to use Claude during the war with Iran.
Anthropic subsequently sued the Trump administration in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., seeking to have the blacklisting revoked, and Trump’s social media directives were temporarily blocked by a federal judge.
But tensions between the two camps appear to be easing, especially after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei met with government officials on Friday to discuss the company’s powerful new model, the Mytos.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also attended the discussion, which a White House spokesperson called “productive and constructive.”
Anthropic announced Mythos earlier this month and limited its rollout to a select group of companies due to its advanced cybersecurity features. Anthropic said it is in “ongoing discussions” with U.S. government officials about the model.
The launch of Mythos comes at the height of Anthropic’s conflict with the Department of Defense, but its release opens the door for the company to inch back into the regime’s good graces.
Mr. Amodei participated in a conference call with Mr. Bessent and Vice President J.D. Vance in early April to discuss AI cyber responses, for example, along with CEOs of other major technology companies.
The AI startup, founded in 2021, had become an early darling among Washington techies, but its sudden ouster surprised many.
Anthropic signed a $200 million contract with the Department of Defense in July, but negotiations broke down in September when the company began negotiations to introduce Claude to the Pentagon’s GenAI.mil AI platform.
The Pentagon wanted Anthropic to give the Pentagon unfettered access to its models for all lawful purposes, but Anthropic wanted assurances that its technology would not be used for fully autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance.
The two sides could not reach an agreement.
WATCH: Amazon and Anthropic announce new deal to provide up to 5 gigawatts of compute for Claude AI models
