FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told CNBC on Tuesday that Anthropic “made a mistake” in its dealings with the Department of Defense after the U.S. government blacklisted the artificial intelligence company.

Anthropic has been in intense negotiations with the Pentagon over the terms of the contract. The startup asked for assurances that its technology would not be used for fully autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance of Americans. The Department of Defense wants Anthropic to agree to let the military use the models in all legitimate use cases.

Negotiations reached an impasse last week Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei It said the company could not “in good conscience” allow its model to be used in this situation.

“I think (Anthropic) may have made a mistake,” the FCC’s Carr told CNBC. “Obviously, there are rules in place that apply to every technology that the War Department contracts.”

President Donald Trump subsequently ordered all U.S. government agencies to “Stop now” using Anthropic’s technology. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stepped up pressure on Anthropic, calling it a “supply chain risk to national security.” The designation means any contractor working with the Pentagon is prohibited from doing business with Anthropic.

When CNBC asked Anthropic whether the door was still open for cooperation with the U.S. government, the FCC’s Carr said the company should “try to correct the wrong direction.”

Carr added: “They had a lot of exit ramps…plenty of opportunities to find a good landing spot and they chose not to and that was a mistake on their part.”

Anthropic had no immediate comment when contacted by CNBC.

friday, human explain It was “saddened” by the move to blacklist it, saying it was “not only legally unsound but also sets a dangerous precedent for any American company negotiating with the government”.

Anthropic said, “We are trying in good faith to reach an agreement with the War Department to make it clear that we support all lawful uses of artificial intelligence in national security,” in addition to large-scale domestic surveillance of Americans and fully autonomous weapons.

Just hours after Anthropic was blacklisted, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said His company has an agreement with the Department of Defense to use its artificial intelligence models. On Monday, Altman said OpenAI “should not have been rushed” into a deal with the Department of Defense, adding that the agreement “seems opportunistic and hasty.”

OpenAI outlined revised terms of the agreement, including language clarifying that “artificial intelligence systems may not knowingly be used to conduct domestic surveillance of U.S. individuals and nationals.”

– CNBC’s Ashley Capoot and Dylan Butts contributed to this report.