Just a few days ago, Donald Trump was sharply critical of AI company Anthropic. Now he has changed his tune. In an interview for The Axios Show, the U.S. president admitted that he may have considered the company a threat to national security. But apparently only until recently. “Well, not now, but maybe a week ago,” Trump replied when asked whether he viewed Anthropic or its CEO, Dario Amodei, as a danger to the country.
How did such an influential company come under the administration’s scrutiny in the first place? The trigger was a dispute over foreigners’ access to Anthropic’s most advanced models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5. Trump ordered the company to block access for foreign users. Anthropic instead disabled the models for everyone.
According to Axios, it all began with a troubling discovery. Amazon compiled a vulnerability report and handed it to the White House. The White House then took it to Anthropic’s leadership, but felt that the company had brushed it off, prompting harsh measures. The Department of Commerce imposed sweeping export restrictions on the company.
More conciliatory tone after the G7 summit
Relations appear to have begun improving, however. Trump and other G7 leaders met with technology company executives at the summit in France. Amodei was among them. And the president came away from the talks with a fairly favorable impression. He described Amodei as “nice” and “smart.” He particularly praised how quickly the company responded to the order concerning export restrictions. “He responded to us very quickly, because that is an enormous responsibility,” Trump said. “People go to prison immediately for that. You can’t play around with this. And I think he responded very responsibly.”
Does that mean Anthropic is in the clear? It is not that straightforward. Trump did not rule out invoking emergency powers against the company under the Defense Production Act, which the Pentagon had previously threatened to use. “I have the power to use a lot of things,” Trump said of the law. “But I’m not sure whether I have to do it.”
The president also revealed who had originally raised concerns about Anthropic. “It was a competitor and co-owner that reported Anthropic. They didn’t like what they were doing. They were very concerned,” he said of the concerns raised by Amazon.
The race with China takes precedence
Why didn’t Trump shut the company down completely? In his view, the race for leadership in artificial intelligence outweighs political disputes. According to him, the United States is leaving China far behind. “I was with President Xi Jinping. We talked about it. We’re beating China by a lot,” Trump said. “The good far outweighs the bad. We’ll find the bad and stop it.”
Anthropic itself struck a conciliatory tone. “We are grateful to the administration for its continued cooperation in seeking to resolve this matter as quickly as possible,” the company said in a statement. It emphasized their shared goal of protecting critical infrastructure and maintaining America’s lead in artificial intelligence.
According to available information, both sides are now working on rules for assessing attempts to circumvent AI safety safeguards.
