White House says meeting with Anthropic CEO was productive amid ongoing disputes

Washington: Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei met US officials at the White House on Friday in what both sides described as a constructive discussion, signalling a notable shift in tone after months of friction between the AI company and the Trump administration.

A White House spokesperson told AFP that the administration held an introductory meeting with Anthropic that was both productive and constructive. According to the spokesperson, the two sides discussed possible areas of cooperation as well as common approaches and protocols for dealing with the challenges linked to scaling artificial intelligence technology.

“Today, the White House hosted an introductory meeting with Anthropic that was both productive and constructive.”, statement read.

US media reported that Amodei met Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during the visit.

The White House spokesperson said the administration looked forward to continuing the dialogue and planned to hold similar discussions with other major AI companies.

The meeting marked a departure from the administration’s earlier stance toward Anthropic. Months ago, Trump directed the US government to immediately stop using the company’s technology after Anthropic declined to give the Pentagon unconditional access to its Claude AI models for military use.

Anthropic has since taken legal action against the Trump administration. The company is also challenging a move by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to place it on a list of firms considered a supply chain risk. This is the first time a US company has been publicly assigned such a designation, which is usually applied to organisations from countries viewed as foreign adversaries, including Chinese technology company Huawei. Both legal cases are still pending in US courts.

An Anthropic spokesperson also described the White House meeting as productive, saying the discussion focused on how the company and the US government could work together on shared priorities including cybersecurity, America’s position in the AI race and AI safety.

“A productive discussion on how Anthropic and the US government can work together on key shared priorities such as cybersecurity, America’s lead in the AI race, and AI safety”, he added.

The spokesperson added that the meeting reflected Anthropic’s continuing commitment to engaging with the US government on the development of responsible AI.

Mythos model and government contacts

Earlier this month, Anthropic unveiled its latest AI model, Mythos, but did not release it publicly because of potential cybersecurity risks. As a precaution, the company shared a version of Mythos with cybersecurity firms CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks, as well as Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, under an initiative called Glasswing.

Anthropic said at the time that it had been in discussions with the US government regarding Mythos, despite a White House order issued in February directing that all contracts with the startup be terminated.