Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei apologized for a leaked internal memo criticizing U.S. president Donald Trump, saying it does not reflect its current views. “The leaked memo does not reflect my careful or considered views and is an out-of-date assessment of the current situation,” he told reporters.
Amodei had also issued an apology in a blog post about the company’s ongoing discussions with the Department of War.
“I also want to apologize directly for a post internal to the company that was leaked to the press yesterday. Anthropic did not leak this post nor direct anyone else to do so – it is not in our interest to escalate this situation,” the blog said.
“That particular post was written within a few hours of the President’s Truth Social post announcing Anthropic would be removed from all federal systems, the Secretary of War’s X post announcing the supply chain risk designation, and the announcement of a deal between the Pentagon and OpenAI, which even OpenAI later characterised as confusing,” the statement added.
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“It was a difficult day for the company, and I apologize for the tone of the post. It does not reflect my careful or considered views. It was also written six days ago, and is an out-of-date assessment of the current situation.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. government confirmed that Anthropic has been designated a “Supply Chain Risk,” by the U.S. Department of War (formerly Department of Defense).
Amodei said in a blog post that the company received a letter from the Department of War on March 4 confirming the designation. He also said that the company believes the decision is not legally justified and will pursue legal action.
Amodei said the law cited by the government – 10 USC 3252 – is “narrow” and meant to protect the government rather than punish a supplier. According to the company, the SCR designation does not restrict the broader use of its AI model Claude or business relationships that are unrelated to Department of War contracts. He also said that Anthropic has been in discussions with the department in recent days.
“The War department and our company are both committed to advancing US national security and agree on urgency of applying AI across government. The language used by the DoW matches our statement on Friday, that vast majority of customers are unaffected by SCR designation,” he told reporters.
Amodei also said the company’s priority is to ensure that national security experts continue to have access to important AI tools. “Our only concerns have been our exceptions on fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance. We will provide our models to DoW and the national security community, at nominal cost and with continuing support from our engineers,” he said.
Anthropic had previously been at odds with the Pentagon over disagreements over the red lines for its use for military engagement. Despite Trump’s disapproval of the company, Anthropic’s Claude was reportedly used for the strikes on Iran.