Dario Amodei claims Trump targets AI company over politics

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, in his recent remarks, says that the company is being punished by the Trump administration because it did not support former President Donald Trump with donations or praise.

The issue at hand concerns AI safety, surveillance terms, and a contract with the US Department of Defence (DoD).

The issue has led to Anthropic being deemed a supply chain security threat and banned from use by the US government. Anthropic CEO wrote to all employees stating that the main issue with Anthropic was political in nature with the DoD.

He claimed that the company has never supported Trump campaign causes or given any praise to Trump, unlike other tech giants like OpenAI.

According to Amodei, it was due to political differences that the US Department of Defence deemed Anthropic a national security threat.

Amodei also criticised the DoD for wanting changes to Anthropic’s terms of service to allow bulk data analysis for surveillance and autonomous weapons. He said the company resisted weakening its terms to protect user privacy and safety.

He claims OpenAI President Greg Brockman and others have donated large sums to Trump aligned political action committees while Anthropic supported AI guardrails and regulation.

Moreover, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said the partnership with the Department of Defence includes safeguards on surveillance and autonomous weaponry. Amodei called this messaging “mendacious” and described the protections as “safety theatre”. He said OpenAI’s terms do not meaningfully shield against domestic mass surveillance.