Anthropic’s relationship with the Trump administration seems to be thawing

Although recently designated as a supply chain risk by the Pentagon, Anthropic is still speaking with high-level members of the Trump administration.

There were earlier signs of a thaw in the relationship — or a sense that not every part of the administration wanted to sever ties with Anthropics — with reports that Treasury Secretary Scott Besent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell were encouraging the heads of major banks to test the new Anthropic Mythos model.

Anthropic co-founder Jack Clarke appears to confirm this, claiming that the ongoing battle over defining supply chain risks is a “narrow contractual dispute” and would not interfere with the company’s desire to keep the government informed of its latest models.

Then on Friday, Axios reported Ann Picente and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. The White House described this in a statement as a “preliminary meeting” that was “productive and constructive.”

The White House said: “We discussed opportunities for cooperation, as well as common methods and protocols to address the challenges associated with scaling this technology.”

Likewise, Anthropy issued statement Emphasizing that Amodei met with “senior administration officials to have a productive discussion about how the US government and humanity can work together on key shared priorities such as cybersecurity, America’s leadership in the AI ​​race, and AI safety.”

The company added that it “looks forward to continuing these discussions.”

The dispute between Anthropic and the Pentagon appears to have begun after negotiations over the military’s use of Anthropic’s models failed. The AI ​​company has sought to maintain safeguards about its technology being used for fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance. (OpenAI soon announced a military deal of its own, leading to backlash from some consumers.)

The Pentagon subsequently declared Anthropics a supply chain risk — a designation generally reserved for foreign adversaries that could severely limit the government’s use of Anthropics. The company is challenging this classification in court.

But the rest of the Trump administration does not appear to share the Pentagon’s hostility, with an administration source telling Axios that “every agency” except the Department of Defense wants to use the company’s technology.