A Defense Department official told the BBC on October 5 that the Pentagon "has ceased the use of Anthropic products," ending months of wrangling after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated Anthropic a supply-chain risk in February and set a six-month phase-out deadline ending in late August. The statement did not say when the use actually ended.

Sources told the BBC that Claude was still in use as recently as the week before, including in military operations against Iran, as well as for research, analysis, and intelligence gathering. Claude had been embedded in Maven Smart System, the Pentagon's primary data platform operated by Palantir, where analysts used it to process drone footage and satellite imagery and assemble operational briefs.

The standoff began when the Pentagon pressed Anthropic to remove the guardrails barring Claude's use for fully autonomous lethal weapons and domestic mass surveillance. Anthropic refused, calling the designation "unprecedented and unlawful," and the D.C. Circuit upheld the Pentagon's exclusion on September 25. An Anthropic spokesman declined to comment on the October 5 statement.