Sam Altman takes swipe at Anthropic amid uproar over OpenAI-Pentagon deal — ‘Bad for society’

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Thursday took a subtle swipe on Anthropic, saying he thought it was “bad for the society” if companies begin to abandon the democratic process just because “some people don’t like the person or people currently in charge.”

Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, Altman took a jibe at Anthropic, calling out its priorities.

“The government is supposed to be more powerful than private companies,” he said.

According to a report by The Information, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei expressed criticism over Altman’s relationship with the Trump administration in a memo to employees last Friday.

Amodei wrote in the memo that Anthropic had not engaged in a “dictator-style praise to Trump,” while Altman has, as per the report. He attributed that as the reason why Trump officials did not like his company.

The Pentagon and Anthtropic have been locked in a months-long dispute over the company's insistence on safeguards that the Defense Department, which the Trump administration calls the Department of War, said went too far.

The Pentagon slapped a formal supply-chain risk designation on artificial intelligence lab Anthropic on Thursday, limiting use of a technology that a source said was being used for military operations in Iran.

This came days after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that Anthropic will be labelled as a supply-chain risk last Friday, and US President Donald Trump asked federal agencies to stop using Anthropic's services.

OpenAI's deal with Pentagon

Hours after the Pentagon punished Anthropic last Friday, OpenAI announced a deal to effectively replace Anthropic with ChatGPT in classified military environments.

OpenAI said it sought similar protections against domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons but later had to amend its agreements, leading CEO Sam Altman to later say he shouldn't have rushed a deal that “looked opportunistic and sloppy.”

The OpenAI CEO said Thursday that he intended to de-escalate the situation.

“It is complicated, we are busy with other things,” Altman said. “But last week, when things started to get into a fight, it became increasingly clear to us that there was a chance things were going to go very badly.”

Anthropic's supply-chain risk label

The Pentagon said in a statement Thursday that it has “officially informed Anthropic leadership the company and its products are deemed a supply chain risk, effective immediately.”

The decision appeared to shut down the opportunity for further negotiation with Anthropic, nearly a week after President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused the company of endangering national security.

This move is effective immediately and bars government contractors from using Anthropic's technology in their work for the US military, Anthropic has confirmed.

But companies can still use Anthropic's Claude in other projects unrelated to the Pentagon, CEO Dario Amodei wrote in the statement, adding that the restrictions only apply to the usage of Anthropic AI in Pentagon contracts.

Meanwhile, Dario Amodei has apologised for the internal memo published Wednesday by the tech news site The Information. The internal memo's publication came as Anthropic's investors were racing to contain the damage caused by the company's fallout with the Pentagon.