The US military is still using Claude, but defense technology customers are fleeing

in the wake of Anthropic conflict With the Department of Defense, the company has been left in an awkward place — whether in active use as part of the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran, or disconnected from many of its defense industry customers.

Part of the confusion is the overlapping and contradictory restrictions imposed by the US government. President Trump has directed civilian agencies to do so Stop using Anthropy productsBut the company was given six months to end its operations with the Ministry of Defense. The next day, the United States and Israel launched a surprise attack on Tehran, setting off an ongoing conflict before Trump’s directives could be fully implemented.

The result is that as the United States continues its air assault on Iran, human models are being used in many targeting decisions. While Defense Minister Pete Hegseth has pledged to designate the company as a supply chain risk, no formal steps have been taken to that end, so there are no legal barriers to using the system.

Article in the Washington Post On Wednesday, it revealed new details about how Anthropic’s systems will be used alongside Palantir’s Maven system. As Pentagon officials were planning the strikes, the systems “suggested hundreds of targets, issued precise coordinates of the locations, and prioritized those targets in order of importance,” the newspaper reported. The article described the system’s function as “real-time targeting and target prioritization.”

At the same time, many companies in the defense industry have already replaced human models with competitors. Lockheed Martin and other defense contractors have begun switching company models this weekAccording to a Reuters report. Many subcontractors are in a similar predicament: Managing partner at J2 Ventures He told CNBC That 10 of his portfolio companies “have retreated from their use of Claude in defensive use cases and are in active processes to replace the service with another.”

The biggest open question is whether Hegseth will meet its supply chain risk rating, which will likely lead to a hotly contested legal case. But meanwhile, a leading AI lab is quickly being separated from military technology, even while being used in an active war zone.