US military reportedly used Claude in Iran strikes despite Trump's ban

"US military command used the tools for intelligence purposes, as well as to help select targets and carry out battlefield simulations. On Friday, just hours before the Iran attack began, Trump ordered all federal agencies to stop using Claude immediately, denouncing Anthropic on Truth Social as a Radical Left AI company run by people who have no idea what the real World is all about."

"Anthropic objected, pointing to its terms of use which do not allow Claude to be applied for violent ends, to develop weapons, or for surveillance. The flaming row was triggered by the use of Claude by the US military in its raid to capture the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, in January."

"Defense secretary Pete Hegseth accused Anthropic of arrogance and betrayal, adding that America's warfighters will never be held hostage by the ideological whims of Big Tech. Hegseth demanded full and unrestricted access to all Anthropic's AI models for every lawful purpose, but acknowledged the difficulty of rapidly detaching military systems from the AI tool."

The US military employed Anthropic's Claude AI model for intelligence, target selection, and battlefield simulations during a joint US-Israel attack on Iran, occurring hours after Trump ordered all federal agencies to cease using Claude. Trump denounced Anthropic as a radical left company following the military's use of Claude in a January operation against Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Anthropic objected, citing its terms prohibiting Claude's use for violence, weapons development, or surveillance. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused Anthropic of arrogance and betrayal, demanding unrestricted access to all AI models for lawful military purposes. However, Hegseth acknowledged the challenge of rapidly removing AI tools from military systems, granting Anthropic a six-month transition period to replace the services.

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