Google joins Microsoft in telling users Anthropic is still available outside defense projects

In a recent announcement, Google has confirmed its intention to continue providing access to Anthropic's artificial intelligence technology for clients, excluding defense applications. This declaration comes just one day after Microsoft made a similar statement to its customers. Both tech giants are responding to a recent designation by the Defense Department, which classified Anthropic as a supply chain risk. A spokesperson for Google stated, "We understand that the Determination does not preclude us from working with Anthropic on non-defense related projects, and their products remain available through our platforms, like Google Cloud." As the leading provider of public cloud services, Amazon has yet to comment on the situation. Anthropic's Claude models can be accessed through Google Cloud via the Vertex AI platform. Notably, Google has been a key financial supporter of Anthropic, having invested an additional $1 billion in January 2025, following a previous $2 billion investment. Anthropic relies on Google Cloud’s advanced AI infrastructure for training its models. Recently, the partnership expanded to include access to up to 1 million of Google’s custom tensor processing units (TPUs). This collaboration comes in light of Anthropic's refusal to comply with the Defense Department's terms of use last week, leading to a directive from President Donald Trump for federal agencies to cease using Anthropic’s technologies. In an unexpected development, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the partnership with Anthropic would be phased out over the next six months. CNBC reported that Anthropic’s models were implicated in a recent U.S. military operation against Iran. Consequently, some defense tech firms have advised their employees to stop using Anthropic’s Claude models in favor of alternatives, including those from rival OpenAI. Microsoft was the first major partner to declare its ongoing collaboration with Anthropic following the Pentagon's actions. The company clarified that its legal team has determined that Anthropic products, including Claude, can still be available to customers, with the exception of the Department of War. In response to these developments, Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei announced that the company plans to legally challenge the supply chain risk designation in court. This situation continues to evolve as the implications for AI technology in defense and commercial sectors unfold.