Dario Amodei apologized for a leaked internal message that took aim at the Trump administration’s move to designate Anthropic a supply chain risk.
“It was a difficult day for the company, and I apologize for the tone of the post. It does not reflect my careful or considered views. It was also written six days ago, and is an out-of-date assessment of the current situation,” Amodei wrote in a Thursday statement published on Anthropic’s website.
He added that Anthropic did not leak the post or ask anyone else to do it, and said that the company’s “most important priority right now is making sure that our warfighters and national security experts are not deprived of important tools in the middle of major combat operations.”
According to Amodei, Anthropic has had “productive conversations” with the Defense Department “about ways we could serve the Department that adhere to our two narrow exceptions, and ways for us to ensure a smooth transition if that is not possible.”
However, Emil Michael, the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said in a post on X on Thursday that the Department of War is not in any negotiation with the AI startup.
The Pentagon on Thursday notified Anthropic that “the company and its products are deemed a supply chain risk, effective immediately.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the designation means companies holding defense contracts are effectively barred from doing business with the AI firm.
The designation comes after a standoff between Anthropic and the Pentagon over how the company’s Claude models could be used. Anthropic has said it will not permit its technology to be used for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.
Amodei said the company intends to challenge the Pentagon’s decision in court.
In the leaked memo to Anthropic employees obtained by The Information, Amodei wrote the Trump administration opposed the company because it hadn’t donated to the president or offered the kind of “dictator-style” praise he said competitors had.
In an interview with The Economist published Friday, Amodei apologized for the message and said he wouldn’t characterize it as a formal memo.
“I post things in Slack. I post them a lot. And the culture within the company is that I’m very free, and you know, it’s not a really considered or refined version of my thinking. It’s not what I would say on reflection,” he said.
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