President Trump has signaled that his relationship with the artificial intelligence company Anthropic is improving, just days after he viewed the firm as a national security threat, according to Axios reporter Maria Curi.
According to the report, Trump said that as recently as last week he saw Anthropic as a national security threat. But he indicated that relations have since warmed, crediting a meeting with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei at the G7 summit. Trump described Amodei as "nice" and "smart," according to Axios.
The report does not detail what specifically prompted Trump's earlier concern, nor what concrete steps, if any, might follow from the apparent thaw. The pivot appears to rest largely on the personal impression Amodei made during the gathering of world leaders.
Anthropic, the maker of the Claude family of AI models, is among the most prominent companies in the rapidly growing AI sector, which has drawn increasing attention from governments weighing its national security implications.
Why it matters: When a president frames a leading AI company as a potential national security threat — and then reverses course based on a personal meeting — it underscores how much the relationship between Washington and the AI industry can hinge on direct access and personal rapport rather than formal policy.