The Trump administration is seemingly taking a U-turn on its opposition to using Anthropic’s AI tools for the federal government. As per a new report by Axios, the White House is exploring ways to allow US government agencies to work with Anthropic again, despite the company being flagged earlier as a supply chain risk.
Notably, after the negotiations between and the fell through over using the company’s AI in classified missions due to security risks, US President Donald Trump had gone on to call the startup a ‘radical left, woke company’ that made a ‘disastrous mistake’ trying to strong-arm the Department of War to ‘obey their Terms of Service’.
“We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again! There will be a six-month phase-out period for agencies like the Department of War who are using Anthropic’s products, at various levels.” Trump had written then.
Trump administration’s U-turn?
The Axios report notes that a draft executive action is currently in the works which could ease the tensions between Anthropic and the administration. The report, quoting a source, called the new draft a way to “save face and bring them back in.”
Reportedly, senior officials including Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei in what was described as a productive introductory meeting on how the maker and the US government can work together.
The White House is also reportedly holding discussions with companies across various sectors to shape the proposed guidance and define best practices for deploying Mythos, Anthropic’s latest AI model which the company had deemed too big of a security risk to be released to the public. The meetings are said to include “table reads” of possible guidance that could effectively roll back the previous directive on not using Anthropic’s tools in the government.
Speaking about the development to Axios, the White House said, “The White House continues to proactively engage across government and industry to protect our country and the American people, including by working with frontier AI labs.”
“The collective effort of all involved will ultimately benefit our economy and country. However, any policy announcement will come directly from the President and anything else is pure speculation,” it added.
US agencies clamouring to get their hands on Mythos:
The sudden shift in policy has been attributed to the Mythos AI model which, while Anthropic showed the ability to automate cyberattacks, could also be a powerful tool for cyber defenders.
While the Pentagon is still battling Anthropic in court over the supply chain designation, other federal agencies are reportedly clamouring for access to the new technology. In fact, despite the ongoing legal feud, the National Security Agency (NSA) is already actively using Mythos.
According to the report, the Pentagon is still able to use Anthropic’s models despite the legal battle, while the National Security Agency (NSA) is even using Mythos.
The report notes that while key players at the Pentagon are still ‘dug in’ on the issue of supply chain designation, other stakeholders believe that the fight has been counterproductive and are ready to find an off-ramp.