Washington, Oct. 5 -- The US Department of Defence has stopped using Anthropic's artificial intelligence tools, a department official told the BBC, months after the company was designated a national security supply-chain risk.

"The Pentagon has ceased the use of Anthropic products," the official said.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth designated Anthropic a supply-chain risk in February and ordered the department to phase out its technology by late August.

However, people familiar with the matter told the BBC that Anthropic's Claude models were still being used as recently as last week for research, analysis and intelligence gathering, as well as military operations involving Iran.

The sources, including former US defence officials and con...