London courts leading US AI firm as political row deepens in Washington. Khan defends ethical safeguards while White House and Pentagon escalate pressure
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has invited San Francisco-based artificial intelligence developer Anthropic to expand its presence in the UK capital, as tensions grow between the company and the administration of US President Donald Trump.
Khan wrote to Anthropic’s chief executive, Dario Amodei, after the Pentagon designated the firm as a supply chain risk. The move followed Amodei’s refusal to grant US defence agencies unrestricted access to the company’s artificial intelligence systems. The designation signals that the US government considers Anthropic insufficiently secure for official use and marks the first time such a label has been applied to a domestic technology company.
“It is extremely concerning to see this kind of behaviour, which is a clear attempt to intimidate and punish Anthropic for refusing to remove ethical safeguards,” Khan wrote. The company said it planned to challenge the designation in court.
Responding to the mayor’s intervention, a White House spokesperson said: “As President Trump said, we will never allow a radical left, woke company to dictate how our United States Military fights wars.”
The dispute centres on the potential military uses of Anthropic’s AI systems, particularly its Claude model. During discussions with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Amodei objected to the possibility that the technology could be deployed for mass domestic surveillance or autonomous military targeting.
The Pentagon has said the armed forces must be able to use technology “for all lawful purposes” and maintained that the scenarios raised by Anthropic would breach existing law and were not under consideration.
The confrontation intensified last week when Trump said he would direct all federal agencies to halt the use of Anthropic’s technology. Khan expressed support for the company’s stance, writing: “I applaud your steadfastness in the face of such pressure,” and adding that it “would be good to discuss how we could support you to expand operations further.”
Khan said London “could provide an even more significant location and platform for the future of Anthropic”, signalling that City Hall sees an opportunity to position the capital as an alternative base for advanced AI development if the company’s relationship with Washington continues to deteriorate.
Anthropic had previously been in negotiations with the US Department of Defense, but those discussions have now ended. On Thursday, Under Secretary of Defense Emil Michael wrote on X: “I want to end all speculation: there is no active [Department of War] negotiation with [Anthropic].” The Department of War is a secondary name used by Trump to refer to the Department of Defense.
The Pentagon’s decision prompted concern within Anthropic that the designation could disrupt commercial partnerships with companies that also serve US government clients. However, those concerns have not yet materialised.
Technology company Microsoft said it would continue incorporating Anthropic’s systems into products provided to customers, with the exception of work involving the US Department of Defense.
“Our lawyers have studied the designation and have concluded that Anthropic products, including Claude, can remain available to our customers,” Microsoft said in a statement.
Khan’s outreach highlights the growing geopolitical and commercial sensitivity surrounding advanced artificial intelligence, as governments weigh national security priorities against the industry’s calls for ethical safeguards. The episode also underscores increasing competition between global technology centres seeking to attract high-value AI research and investment amid regulatory uncertainty in the United States.
