Overview
- Anthropic filed two challenges on March 9—one in federal court in California and another in the D.C. Circuit—seeking to nullify the Pentagon’s designation that restricts its use in defense work.
- The Pentagon label, historically used for foreign adversaries, curtails Claude’s use in military contracts, and President Donald Trump ordered agencies to stop using the tool on a six‑month phase‑out.
- The dispute stems from Anthropic’s refusal to remove guardrails against mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous lethal weapons, while defense officials pressed for access to “all legal uses.”
- OpenAI moved to replace Anthropic for classified Pentagon work; CEO Sam Altman later apologized internally for a rushed announcement, and hardware chief Caitlin Kalinowski resigned over safeguard concerns.
- Backlash against OpenAI has grown, with Sensor Tower reporting a 295% one‑day spike in ChatGPT uninstalls and the QuitGPT movement claiming millions of cancellations, as Claude briefly led U.S. app downloads.