Former Trump official: Anthropic order "attempted corporate murder"
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei at a 2024 event. Photo: Chesnot/Getty Images
A former Trump AI official blasted the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic as "attempted corporate murder" on Friday.
Why it matters: It's a recognition of the stakes in the administration's effort to cull what Trump calls a "woke" company — one that happens to have lately dominated the field.
Driving the news: Anthropic rejected the Pentagon's demand to lift all safeguards on the military's use of its model, Claude, due to its concerns about the use of AI for mass domestic surveillance and the development of weapons that fire without human involvement.
- President Trump posted on Truth Social about the move, calling Anthopic a "radical left" company.
- The move to classify Anthropic as a "supply chain risk" could require companies to cut ties with the AI lab.
What they're saying: "Nvidia, Amazon, Google will have to divest from Anthropic if Hegseth gets his way. This is simply attempted corporate murder," Dean Ball, former AI adviser in the Trump administration, said in a post on X.
- "I could not possibly recommend investing in American AI to any investor; I could not possibly recommend starting an AI company in the United States," he added.
- "This is obviously a psychotic power grab. It is almost surely illegal," he said in another post.
For the record: Amazon, Google and Nvidia did not immediately respond to Axios requests for comment.
Zoom in: Any potential forced cutting of ties with Anthropic could hinder the cash flows and AI ambitions of the top tech companies that are currently powering the U.S. stock market.
- Amazon, Google and Nvidia all have deals and partnerships with Anthropic and expect returns from their investments.
- Amazon, for example, an early Anthropic investor, has turned an initial $8 billion investment into what now amounts to nearly $70 billion.
Zoom out: The pushback from the administration flies in the face of what Wall Street wants for tech companies: freedom.
- "The United States federal government is now, by an extremely wide margin, the most aggressive regulator of artificial intelligence in the world," Ball added.
- Investors have long argued that the U.S. is the best country in the world to invest in AI companies because of the perceived benefits of capitalism and lack of strict tech regulation.
The bottom line: AI investors and companies seeking a pro-business, low-regulation backdrop for their technological ambitions may be facing a harsh new reality.
