Microsoft, Google, Amazon say Anthropic Claude remains available to non-defense customers

Companies and startups using Anthropic Claude through Microsoft and Google products don’t have to worry about the model being ripped out of their reach, Microsoft and Google confirmed to TechCrunch. AWS customers and partners can do that too reportedly continue to use Claude for their non-defense workloads.

Microsoft was the first major tech company to offer assurances that Anthropic’s models will remain available to its customers, even as the Trump administration’s War Department — formally known as the Department of Defense — has escalated its feud with Anthropic.

The Defense Department officially designated the U.S. AI startup as a supply chain risk on Thursday after the AI ​​company declined to give it unrestricted access to its technology for applications the company said its AI could not safely support, such as mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons.

The designation “supply chain risk” is generally reserved for foreign adversaries. For Anthropic, the designation means that the Pentagon will no longer be able to use the company’s products once it removes Claude from its systems. It also requires any company or agency working with the Pentagon to certify that they also do not use Anthropic’s models. Anthropic has vowed to challenge the designation in court.

Microsoft sells a range of products, from Office to the cloud, to many federal agencies, including the Department of Defense. A Microsoft spokesperson said the company will continue to make Anthropic’s models available within its own products and to Microsoft customers.

“Our attorneys have reviewed the designation and have concluded that Anthropic products, including Claude, can continue to be available to our customers – excluding the War Department – ​​through platforms such as M365, GitHub and Microsoft’s AI Foundry, and that we can continue to collaborate with Anthropic on non-defense related projects,” the spokesperson said in an email. CNBC first reported on the comment.

Google, which sells federal agencies cloud computing, AI and productivity tools, also confirmed it will continue to make Claude available to its customers.

“We understand that the provision will not prevent us from working with Anthropic on non-defense projects, and their products will remain available through our platforms, such as Google Cloud,” a Google spokesperson said.

CNBC too reported that AWS customers and partners can continue to use Claude for their non-defense workloads.

This echoes what Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, said in his statement pledging to fight the appointment.

“As far as our customers are concerned, this clearly only applies to customer use of Claude as a direct part of contracts with the Department of War, not all use of Claude by customers who have such contracts,” Amodei said, adding, “Even for Department of War contractors, the supply chain risk designation does not (and cannot) limit the use of Claude or business relationships with Anthropic that are not related to their specific Department of War contracts.”

Meanwhile, Claude’s consumer growth has continued after Anthropic refused to give in to the department’s demands.