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

Despite recently being identified as a supply chain risk by the Pentagon, Anthropic is still talking to senior members of the Trump administration.

There were earlier signs of a thawing relationship — or a sense that not every part of the government wanted to cut off Anthropic — with reports that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell were encouraging the heads of major banks to test out Anthropic’s new Mythos model.

Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark appeared to confirm this, claiming that the ongoing battle over supply chain risk designation is a “close contract dispute” that would not hinder the company’s willingness to inform the government about its latest models.

Then on Friday, Axios reported that Bessent and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles had met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. In a statement, the White House described this as an “introductory meeting” that was “productive and constructive.”

“We discussed opportunities for collaboration, as well as shared approaches and protocols to address the challenges associated with scaling this technology,” the White House said.

Anthropic was published in the same way a statement confirming that Amodei had met with “senior government officials for a productive discussion on how Anthropic and the U.S. government can work together on important shared priorities such as cybersecurity, America’s lead in the AI ​​race, and AI safety.”

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

The dispute between Anthropic and the Pentagon apparently began after failed negotiations over the military’s use of Anthropic’s models; the AI ​​company sought to maintain safeguards around the use of its technology for fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance. (OpenAI soon announced its own military deal, which led to some consumer backlash.)

The Pentagon subsequently declared Anthropic a supply chain risk — a label generally reserved for foreign adversaries and which could severely limit government use of Anthropic’s models. The company is challenging that designation in court.

But it appears the rest of the Trump administration doesn’t share the Pentagon’s hostility, with an administration source telling Axios that “every agency” besides the Defense Department wants to use the company’s technology.