Trump tells US govt to ‘immediately’ stop using Anthropic AI tech

Anthropic logo. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 28 February 2026
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Trump tells US govt to ‘immediately’ stop using Anthropic AI tech

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump told the US government Friday to “immediately” stop using Anthropic’s technology after the AI startup rejected the Pentagon’s demand that it agree to unconditional military use of its Claude models.
Anthropic insists its technology should not be used for the mass surveillance of US citizens or deployed in fully autonomous weapons systems, while the Pentagon says it operates within the law and that contracted suppliers cannot set terms on how their products are employed.
“I am directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology. We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“There will be a Six Month phase out period for Agencies like the Department of War who are using Anthropic’s products, at various levels,” the US president said, referring to the Department of Defense.
Anthropic did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Trump’s announcement.
The Pentagon had said Anthropic must agree to comply with its demand by 5:01 p.m.  Friday or face compulsion under the Defense Production Act.
The Cold War-era law, last invoked during the Covid pandemic, grants the federal government sweeping powers to direct private industry toward national security priorities.
The Pentagon also threatened to designate Anthropic a supply chain risk — a label typically reserved for companies from adversary nations — which could severely damage its ability to work with the US government and harm its broader reputation.
But Anthropic refused, with its chief executive Dario Amodei saying Thursday that “these threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request.”
 


UN warns 200,000 more Afghan children face acute malnutrition in 2026

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UN warns 200,000 more Afghan children face acute malnutrition in 2026

“Acute malnutrition ⁠among children is ⁠soaring,” WFP’S Country Director John Aylieff said
Some 200,000 additional children face acute malnutrition this year

GENEVA: Hundreds of thousands more children face acute malnutrition in Afghanistan this year amid a hunger crisis exacerbated by foreign aid cuts and violence on the border with Pakistan, a UN official said on Tuesday.
International aid to Afghanistan has fallen sharply since 2021, when US-led forces exited the country and the Taliban regained power. The crisis has been compounded by natural calamities including earthquakes.
“Acute malnutrition ⁠among children is ⁠soaring. Last year we saw the highest surge ever recorded in Afghanistan, and this year, a staggering 3.7 million children will need malnutrition treatment,” the World Food Programme’s Country Director John Aylieff told a Geneva press briefing.
Some 200,000 additional children face acute malnutrition this year, he added.
Funding ⁠cuts mean the UN agency only has the resources to treat one in every four children needing treatment for acute malnutrition, Aylieff said.
Others do not even have the means to reach clinics, he said, voicing concerns that some are trapped by snowfall in remote highland areas.
Most children who die in Afghanistan do so “during the winter... at home silently,” he said.
“What I fear is when the snow is melted at the end of March or in ⁠April, we ⁠will find there has been a very high toll of child deaths in the villages.”
Expulsion policies in neighboring Pakistan and Iran have resulted in over 5 million returnees since late 2023, further straining limited resources, Aylieff said.
Many of those returning to Afghanistan are close to areas where Pakistani and Afghan troops have clashed in recent days, forcing WFP to suspend some services there.
“We foresee that acute malnutrition will be driven up further by the conflict as people are prevented from accessing health services,” imperilling tens of thousands of children, said Aylieff.