Pentagon staffers, former officials and IT contractors who work closely with the U.S. military say they are reluctant to give up Anthropic’s AI tools, which they view as
superior to alternatives, despite orders to remove them.
Users Reluctant To Switch
After a dispute between Anthropic and the Pentagon over guardrails for how the military could use its artificial intelligence tools, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated
the company a supply-chain risk on March 3, barring its use by the Pentagon and its contractors following a six-month phase-out.
AI Now Central To Military Operations
But the move is running into resistance, with some military users dragging their feet and others preparing to revert to Anthropic’s platform in anticipation of the dispute being
resolved.
“Career IT people at DoD hate this move because they had finally gotten operators comfortable using AI,” said one IT contractor. “They think it’s stupid.” The contractor said
Anthropic’s Claude AI model “is the best,” while xAI’s Grok often produced inconsistent answers to the same query.
The complaints suggest uprooting Anthropic from the Pentagon’s networks will be neither quick nor painless. One contractor said recertifying systems that run on Anthropic’s
products for military use could take months.
Some Pentagon officials, staff and contractors spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The Defense Department, Anthropic and xAI did not respond to requests for comment.
Concerns Over Disruption
AI tools have become essential for the U.S. military, which uses them for tasks ranging from targeting weapons and helping plan operations to handling classified material and analyzing information.
Anthropic announced a $200 million defense contract in July 2025 and quickly became embedded in the military’s workflow. Claude became the first AI model approved to operate on classified military networks, and officials familiar with its use said adoption was strong. Within the federal government, Anthropic’s models were widely viewed as more capable than rival offerings.
Reuters has previously reported that the Pentagon used Claude tools to support U.S. military operations during the conflict with Iran, and sources said the technology remains in use despite the blacklisting. One expert described that as “the clearest signal” of how highly the Pentagon values the tool.
(with inputs from Reuters)
