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The Anthropic logo displayed on a smartphone screen, photographed in Brussels, Belgium, on June 10 (local time). / AFP, Yonhap

The U.S. Department of Defense announced on the 5th (local time) that it has completely halted the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools developed by Anthropic, which it had effectively blacklisted.

The British BBC reported that a Pentagon official confirmed the move in a statement, noting that the measure comes several months after designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk on national security grounds.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth identified Anthropic as a national security supply chain risk in February, announcing plans to discontinue using the company's products by August of this year.

Multiple sources familiar with the matter stated that the Department of Defense had continued to use Anthropic's AI model "Claude" as recently as last week for activities such as intelligence gathering, research, and analysis.

Officials previously tasked with AI initiatives at the Pentagon, along with defense contractor personnel, reported that Claude had been regarded internally as an essential tool for screening and synthesizing massive volumes of intelligence.

This marks the first time concrete details confirming the Pentagon's comprehensive phaseout of Anthropic's AI tools have been made public.

The U.S. administration and military had used Anthropic products since 2024, marking the first deployment of AI across classified government operations.

Earlier this year, the Department of Defense requested that Anthropic remove Claude's safety guardrails and grant the military unrestricted access to the AI tool; however, Anthropic declined, citing concerns regarding mass surveillance and autonomous weapons applications.

In response, Secretary Hegseth designated Anthropic as a supply chain risk—a legal designation typically applied to entities based in nations that pose a threat to the United States.

Anthropic pushed back against the designation, calling it "unprecedented and unlawful," and filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration seeking to overturn it.

While the legal battle remains ongoing, the Pentagon has inked contracts with major technology firms, including Google, xAI, and OpenAI.

According to sources, OpenAI's tools have been deployed more broadly across several military-affiliated departments over recent months.

                                                                                                             Kim Hyun-min