Enterprises and startups using Anthropic Claude through Microsoft and Google products need not fear that the model will be removed from their reach, Microsoft and Google confirmed to TechCrunch. AWS customers and partners can too according to information continue to use Claude for non-defense workloads.
Microsoft was the first major tech company to offer assurances that Anthropic’s models would remain available to its customers, even as the Trump administration’s War Department — formally known as the Defense Department — has escalated its dispute with Anthropic.
The Defense Department officially designated a US AI startup as a supply chain risk on Thursday after the AI firm refused to give it unrestricted access to its technology for applications the company said its artificial intelligence could not safely support, such as mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons.
Supply chain risk characterization is usually reserved for foreign competitors. For Anthropic, the designation means the Pentagon won’t be able to use the company’s products once it removes Claude from its systems. It also requires any company or agency that works with the Pentagon to certify that it is not using Anthropic’s models. Anthropic has vowed to fight the designation in court.
Microsoft sells a range of products, from Office to its cloud, to many federal agencies, including the Department of Defense. A Microsoft spokesman said the company will continue to make Anthropic’s models available in its own products and to Microsoft customers.
“Our attorneys have studied the designation and concluded that Anthropic products, including Claude, can remain available to our customers — except for the War Department — through platforms such as M365, GitHub, and Microsoft’s AI Foundry, and that we can continue to work with Anthropic on non-defense-related projects,” the spokesperson said in an email. CNBC reported for the first time in the comment.
Google, which sells cloud computing, artificial intelligence and productivity tools to federal agencies, also confirmed it will continue to make Claude available to its customers.
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“We understand that Resoluteness does not preclude us from working with Anthropic on non-defense projects, and its products remain available through our platforms, such as Google Cloud,” a Google spokesperson said.
CNBC too was mentioned that AWS customers and partners can continue to use Claude for their non-defense workloads.
That echoes what Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in his statement, pledging to fight the designation.
“In relation to our customers, it clearly only applies to customers’ use of Claude as a direct part of it contracts with the Department of War, not all use of Claude by customers who have such contracts,” Amodei said, adding, “Even for Department of War contractors, the supply chain risk designation does not (and cannot) limit uses of Claude or business relationships with Anthropic if not related to their specific Department of War contracts.
Meanwhile, Claude’s consumer rise continued after Anthropic refused to give in to the division’s demands.
