India, Feb. 28 -- In a move that echoes his signature style of turning policy disputes into public battles, US President Donald Trump has once again ignited a very visible showdown - this time with an America-based AI firm Anthropic he has effectively cast as "unpatriotic."

On Friday, the Trump administration directed federal agencies to halt use of Anthropic's AI tools and moved to impose additional penalties. The clash centres on whether the military should have unrestricted access to Anthropic's systems and whether those systems can be used for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. Anthropic has refused to back down.

The dispute escalated after Anthropic sought what it described as "narrow assurances" from the Pentagon. The ...