The spat started when Anthropic refused new terms in their Pentagon contract, saying they would not use their AI for autonomous killing and mass surveillance.
In a stunning reversal, these safeguards are written into an agreement offered just hours later to OpenAI (see below).
Anthropic’s response created a visceral reaction from the two men, with Hegseth starting the process of branding them a «supply chain risk.» This means no Pentagon contractor can use them for government work and was last used to remove Huawei hardware from the grid.
Trump, on the other hand, says he will direct every federal agency to immediately stop using Anthropic’s technology.
OpenAI shares Anthropic’s concerns CEO Altman says, and has the «same red lines.»
UPDATE: OpenAI got the contract. In matter of hours later, Sam Altman tweets:
Tonight, we reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network.
In all of our interactions, the DoW displayed a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome.
AI safety and wide distribution of…
— Sam Altman (@sama) February 28, 2026
They are now an official supplier to classified Pentagon systems, with «prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems» written into the agreement, which was precisely what Anthropic was asking for.
He is also «asking the DoW to offer these same terms to all AI companies, which in our opinion we think everyone should be willing to accept. We have expressed our strong desire to see things de-escalate away from legal and governmental actions and towards reasonable agreements.»
Meanwhile, Anthropic says they’ll sue over being designated «supply chain risk.»
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