Enterprises and startups using Anthropic’s Claude model through Microsoft and Google products can rest assured that the model will not be pulled from their access. This confirmation came from both Microsoft and Google. Additionally, AWS customers and partners can reportedly continue using Claude for their workloads that are not associated with defense.
Microsoft was the first major technology company to offer this assurance, despite the ongoing dispute between Anthropic and the Trump administration’s Department of War, formally known as the Department of Defense. The Defense Department officially designated the American AI startup as a supply-chain risk on Thursday. This action followed Anthropic’s refusal to grant the department unrestricted access to its technology for applications the company deemed unsafe, such as mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons.
The supply-chain risk designation is typically applied to foreign adversaries. For Anthropic, it means the Pentagon will be unable to use the company’s products once it transitions Claude off its systems. It also requires any company or agency working with the Pentagon to certify they do not use Anthropic’s models. Anthropic has vowed to challenge this designation in court.
Microsoft, which sells a wide array of products to many federal agencies including the Defense Department, stated its lawyers studied the designation. They concluded that Anthropic products, including Claude, can remain available to customers other than the Department of War through platforms such as M365, GitHub, and Microsoft’s AI Foundry. The company confirmed it can continue working with Anthropic on non-defense related projects.
Google, which also sells cloud computing, AI, and productivity tools to federal agencies, has similarly confirmed it will continue making Claude available to its customers. A Google spokesperson stated the determination does not preclude working with Anthropic on non-defense projects, and their products remain available through platforms like Google Cloud.
Reports also indicate that AWS customers and partners can keep using Claude for their non-defense workloads. This aligns with the statement from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who vowed to fight the designation. He clarified that the designation applies only to the direct use of Claude as part of contracts with the Department of War, not to all uses by customers who have such contracts. He added that even for Department of War contractors, the designation does not limit uses of Claude or business relationships with Anthropic if those are unrelated to their specific defense contracts.
In the meantime, Claude’s consumer growth surge has continued following Anthropic’s refusal to comply with the department’s demands.