US military reportedly used Claude in Iran strikes despite Trump’s ban | AI (artificial intelligence)
The US military reportedly used Anthropic’s AI model Claude to inform its attack on Iran, despite Donald Trump’s decision hours earlier to sever all ties with the company and its AI tools.
Claude was reportedly used during the massive joint US-Israeli bombing raid on Iran, which began on Saturday. Wall Street Magazine And axios. It underscores the complexity of the U.S. military pulling powerful AI tools from its missions when the technology is already intricately integrated into operations.
According to the Journal, the U.S. military command used these tools for intelligence purposes as well as to help select targets and conduct battlefield simulations.
On Friday, just hours before the Iranian attack began, Trump ordered all federal agencies to immediately stop using Claude. condemned Antropik Real Social As “a Radical Left AI company run by people who have no idea what the real world is.”
The heated debate was triggered by the US military’s use of Claude in a raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January. Anthropic objected, pointing to terms of use that did not allow Claude to be used for violent purposes, weapons development or surveillance.
Since then, relations between Trump, the Pentagon, and the AI company have gradually deteriorated. In a lengthy post published Friday on
Hegseth demanded full and unrestricted access to all of Anthropic’s AI models for any and all lawful purposes.
But the defense minister also acknowledged the difficulty of quickly separating military systems from AI tooling, considering how common they have become. He said Anthropic would continue to provide service “for a period of not more than six months to ensure a smooth transition to a better and more patriotic service.”
After the fallout with Anthropic, rival company OpenAI stepped into the breach. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he reached an agreement with the Pentagon to use the company’s tools, which include ChatGPT, for use in its secret network.
