Technology companies criticize the US government for designating Anthropic as a national risk

The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA), TechNet and the Software Alliance (BSA), which bring together the US Magnificent Seven and hundreds of other companies, today referred their concerns to the White House.

The ITI, in a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, criticizes his “consideration of imposing a supply chain risk designation in response to a contract dispute,” something it advocates resolving through further negotiations or the selection of alternative suppliers, as required by law, and not through an emergency measure.

These types of measures “exist for genuine emergencies and are usually reserved for entities that have been designated as foreign adversaries,” the group specifies in the letter, reported by CNBC.

The other associations signed a joint letter addressed to President Donald Trump, in which they explain that imposing the designation on a large American AI company has “generated a wave of uncertainty throughout the industry,” but specify that they are not as concerned about the “treatment of a company” as the “precedent” it sets.

Treating a U.S. tech company “as a foreign adversary, rather than an asset,” the groups say in an open letter, “will have a chilling effect on U.S. innovation.” and will encourage China to export its “AI backed by its own government to boost its own military and economic ambitions,” they warn.

In the two letters, which do not name Anthropic, the technology companies urge the Government to use the usual channels to resolve a contract dispute, so that competitiveness continues to be encouraged between various companies seeking to obtain a federal contract.

In addition, the CCIA, SIIA, Technet and BSA assure that the American technology industry “is ready to provide the War Department and other federal agencies with the most powerful tools in the world for their national security and defense.”

The fight between Anthropic and the Pentagon, which ended last Friday with a veto of the company’s hiring at the federal level, focused on the conditions that the AI ​​firm set to limit the use of its technology and receive guarantees that it will not be used to spy on Americans or for the use of completely autonomous weapons.

Both Anthropic and OpenAI, which on Friday announced an agreement with Defense for the use of its AI models in classified networks, have criticized the Government’s use of supply chain risk designation in the dispute.