The White House earlier this month ordered the artificial intelligence startup to get government approval before permitting foreign individuals, companies or nations from accessing its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models.
But in an interview with Axios published Friday (June 19), Trump said he thought Anthropic had “behaved very responsibly” in response to the administration’s order.
“He responded to us very quickly, because you know it’s tremendous liability,” Trump said of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.
Asked if he believed Anthropic and Amodei are a national security threat, Trump said, “Well, not now. But a week ago, maybe.”
The president said he wouldn’t shut down Anthropic, arguing that the U.S. is beating China in the AI race. “I would, but I’m not sure I have to do that. I think so far it’s been very responsible,” he said in the interview.
He was also asked if he would consider using the Defense Production Act to regulate or control the AI industry.
“I would, but I’m not sure I have to do that,” Trump added. “I think so far it’s been very responsible. Actually, it was a competitor and a part owner that turned Anthropic in. They didn’t like what they were doing. They were very concerned. Think of it, it’s part owner, and I think it worked out very well, I think.”
The ban on the Mythos and Fable models follows a dispute between Anthropic and the Pentagon that began when the company sought to halt the use of its technology for mass domestic surveillance or autonomous weapons.
When contract talks collapsed, the Defense Department declared Anthropic a supply chain risk. Anthropic is suing to overturn that designation.
In other Anthropic news, PYMNTS wrote last week about the company’s decision to hold off on a planned move to token- and credit-based billing for its Claude Agent SDK following protests from developers and customers worried about unpredictable costs.
“For enterprise AI buyers, Anthropic’s decision is more than a pricing adjustment,” that report said. “It highlights a broader uncertainty surrounding agentic AI deployment. While businesses increasingly want AI agents to handle research, customer service, software development and workflow automation, procurement and finance teams remain focused on a more practical question: What will operating these systems actually cost?”
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