Anthropic's CEO goes to the White House to defuse a feud with the Pentagon
Dario Amodei is heading to the White House for talks aimed at resolving a dispute that began when the Pentagon labeled Anthropic a supply-chain risk
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Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is meeting with White House chief of staff in an effort to resolve the company's ongoing standoff with the Trump administration, according to Axios.
The meeting comes months after the Pentagon designated Anthropic a supply-chain risk — a label typically reserved for adversarial foreign companies — after Anthropic refused to allow its AI models to be used for autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance. Anthropic called the designation "legally unsound" and sued.
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The legal fight has so far produced a split outcome. One court blocked the government from enforcing a ban on Anthropic's Claude AI, while a federal appeals court allowed the Pentagon's blacklisting to stand while litigation continues.
Despite the dispute, Anthropic has reported significant growth. The company says its annualized revenue climbed from about $9 billion at the end of 2025 to more than $30 billion, and paid consumer subscriptions have more than doubled. The number of clients spending at least $1 million a year has crossed 1,000, according to Anthropic.
The Pentagon standoff sharpened the contrast between Anthropic and OpenAI. When OpenAI announced a deal with the Defense Department, app analytics firm Sensor Tower found that ChatGPT uninstalls rose 295% day-over-day, while Claude downloads climbed 51% over the same weekend.
Last week, Anthropic unveiled Project Glasswing, a cybersecurity initiative built around a new, unreleased model called Claude Mythos. Partners including AWS, Apple $AAPL, Microsoft $MSFT, Google $GOOGL, and Cisco $CSCO are testing the model, which Anthropic has described in internal materials as "by far the most powerful AI model we've ever developed." The company has committed $100 million to the initiative and said it has no plans to release Mythos to the public.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth initiated the supply-chain risk designation, and Defense Under Secretary Emil Michael has continued to publicly criticize Amodei since the standoff began. The appeals court ruling means Anthropic remains locked out of Defense Department contracts while the litigation plays out, even as it continues working with other government agencies.