Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stated that the Trump administration has rebuilt its trust with AI firm Anthropic, following a period of strained relations, primarily centered around national security and AI safeguards.
“We trust Anthropic,” Lutnick said when asked about the company’s CEO, Dario Amodei. “They’ve done what we asked. They’re back on the right side,” Lutnick added during a Tuesday interview with Axios.
Simultaneously, Anthropic co-founder Tom Brown has been increasingly visible in the company’s dealings with the White House. This week, he was a key figure at the G20 Innovation Ministerial. Lutnick introduced Brown to the G20 ministers on Wednesday, indicating a warming relationship between the administration and Anthropic.
Meanwhile, Brown praised President Donald Trump’s support for data centers, calling them a major source of prosperity through job creation, tax revenue and increased power capacity. He also highlighted Anthropic’s backing of the administration’s ratepayer pledge.
Brown also played a key role in repairing the relationship, holding several conversations with Lutnick and National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross, as per Axios.
Anthropic-White House Rift
This development follows a series of events that strained the relationship between Anthropic and the Trump administration. In July, David Sacks, Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, accused Anthropic of trying to stifle competition in the AI industry.
In August, a federal judge ruled that the Pentagon’s decision to designate Anthropic as a supply chain security risk violated the law. The judge stated that the government had not offered a sufficient rationale to support its actions.
The dispute began in February after talks between Anthropic and the Pentagon over access to its Claude AI models broke down. Anthropic sought safeguards against fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance, while the Pentagon applied the “supply chain risk” tag on the company and pushed for broader access for all lawful uses.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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