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

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

There were earlier signs of a thaw — or a sense that not all parts of the administration wanted to cut Anthropic — with reports saying Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell urged major banks to test Anthropic’s new Mythos model.

Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark appeared to confirm this, arguing that the ongoing battle over the supply chain risk designation is a “narrow contractual dispute” that would not interfere with the company’s willingness to brief the government on its latest models.

On Friday, Axios reported that Bessent and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles had met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodi. 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.

Similarly, Anthropic issued a statement confirming that Amodei had met with “senior administration officials for a productive discussion about how Anthropic and the US government can work together on key shared priorities such as cybersecurity, America’s leadership in the AI ​​race, and AI security.”

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

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 surveillance in the home. (OpenAI soon announced its own military deal, which led to some consumer backlash.)

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

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