Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's comments to staff disparaging the Trump administration could blow up chances of a resolution between the AI company and the Pentagon, an administration official tells Axios.
Why it matters: Rival OpenAI — and lawmakers across party lines — are pushing for an agreement, as the Pentagon's threat to designate Anthropic a supply chain risk looms.
Driving the news: The Information reported that Amodei sent a memo to staff last Friday saying President Trump disliked Anthropic for not giving him "dictator-style praise."
- Amodei said the OpenAI-Pentagon deal was "safety theater," according to the report.
What they're saying: "Ultimately this is about our warfighters having the best tools to win a fight and you can't trust Claude isn't secretly carrying out Dario's agenda in a classified setting," the administration official said.
- Anthropic has maintained it does not want operational control over the Pentagon's use of Claude and that it should be left to warfighters, a source familiar told Axios.
- Company executives have also told the Pentagon they regret that sentiment wasn't captured well in the media coverage, the source added.
The other side: The two sides had been making progress toward a resolution over the past couple of days, and it's unclear how much the leaked memo will derail talks, a source familiar told Axios.
The bottom line: It's been a highly public standoff between the Pentagon and Anthropic, with personal insults aplenty.
- It appears not much is changing.
