- The US government has labeled Anthropic a supply chain risk
- Anthropic says it will challenge the decision in court
- Claude users should not be affected – and usage figures have increased
The US government has now officially designated Anthropic as a supply chain risk due to the AI company’s unwillingness to sign an intelligence agreement with the Pentagon, a move Anthropic plans to challenge in court.
In an official blog post, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei described the decision as “legally indefensible”. It follows a turbulent week of reaction to Anthropic’s decision to walk away from partnership discussions with the US military, over concerns about mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons.
A company is declared a supply chain risk when US authorities believe that doing business with that company would compromise national security. It is the first time that an American company has officially received the label.
The move shouldn’t have much effect on Claude’s users—as Amodei says, the supply chain risk designation “exists to protect the government rather than punish a supplier,” and doesn’t cover anything outside of official government use.
A lift in users
More than a million people now join Claude every day. To all who choose to make @claudeai a part of how they work and think: welcome.5 March 2026
While Anthropic and the White House try to settle their differences (and there are some indications that a Pentagon deal may still be signed), Claude is enjoying a healthy boost in user numbers — perhaps because of its ethical stance on AI in the military.
According to Anthropic’s Mike Kreiger, more than a million people now sign up for Claude every day. Claude does not publish its user figures, but it was estimated to have around 20 million active monthly users at the start of the year.
A significant portion of these newcomers may be fleeing ChatGPT. Its developer OpenAI has signed an agreement with the US military after Anthropic pulled out, a move that has been met with a wave of criticism from ChatGPT users.
Based on a leaked internal memo, Anthropic’s Amodei believes the ChatGPT deal is mostly “security theater,” and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman himself has described it as “rushed.” It’s likely that more will come from this story over the coming days.
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