London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has called on San Francisco-based AI firm Anthropic to expand its operations in the capital, framing the city as an attractive alternative amid mounting friction with the Trump administration.
In a letter to CEO Dario Amodei, Sir Sadiq decried the U.S. Pentagon’s decision to flag Anthropic as a supply chain risk after Amodei rejected demands for unfettered military access to tools like the Claude model.
“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,” the mayor wrote. Anthropic, launched in 2021 by ex-OpenAI pioneers and backed by billions from Amazon and Google, intends to contest the designation legally.
The White House dismissed Sir Sadiq’s overture, with a spokesperson telling the BBC, “As President Trump said, we will never allow a radical left, woke company to dictate how our United States Military fights wars.”
The mayor’s office confirmed recent discussions with company leaders, while Amodei had previously objected to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s vision of Claude enabling mass surveillance or autonomous targeting—fears the Pentagon calls baseless, as it seeks tech suited “for all lawful purposes.”
Trump ratcheted up pressure last week by ordering federal agencies to drop Anthropic products entirely.
Praising the firm’s backbone—”I applaud your steadfastness in the face of such pressure”—Sir Sadiq suggested talks on scaling up, touting London as “an even more significant location and platform for the future of Anthropic.”
With the UK’s AI Safety Institute and tech clusters like King’s Cross, the city beckons as Europe eyes balanced regulation via the EU AI Act.
Microsoft, a key partner, assured continuity for clients barring the Pentagon. “Our lawyers have studied the designation and have concluded that Anthropic products, including Claude, can remain available to our customers,” it told the BBC. Initial worries of wider fallout for Anthropic’s business have not come to pass.