Anthropic challenges OpenAI, offers Claude to all US government branches for $1
In a rapidly escalating battle for dominance within the federal technology landscape, Anthropic has moved to intensify its competition with OpenAI, announcing it will offer its advanced Claude AI models to all three branches of the U.S. government for a symbolic price of just $1. This aggressive play comes barely a week after OpenAI unveiled a similar initiative, making its ChatGPT Enterprise available to the entire federal executive branch workforce at $1 per year per agency.
Anthropic’s proposal extends its reach beyond the executive branch, aiming to integrate Claude across the legislative and judiciary branches as well. The company states this comprehensive package will be available for a one-year period. This competitive maneuvering follows a significant development earlier this year, when OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind were officially added to the General Services Administration’s (GSA) list of approved artificial intelligence vendors, clearing the path for them to sell their services directly to civilian federal agencies.
Anthropic frames its move as a strategic imperative to expand its presence in federal AI adoption. “We believe the U.S. public sector should have access to the most advanced AI capabilities to tackle complex challenges, from scientific research to constituent services,” Anthropic stated. The company emphasized its commitment to “combining broad accessibility with uncompromising security standards,” asserting that this approach helps ensure AI serves the public interest effectively.
To cater to diverse governmental needs, Anthropic will offer both its general Claude for Enterprise and a specialized Claude for Government. The latter is specifically designed to support FedRAMP High workloads, a stringent security baseline within the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). This certification is crucial, enabling federal workers to confidently use Claude for handling sensitive, unclassified government data, ensuring a high level of data protection and compliance. Beyond the models themselves, Anthropic has also pledged to provide comprehensive technical support, assisting agencies in seamlessly integrating these powerful AI tools into their existing workflows.
While Anthropic, alongside OpenAI, xAI, and Google, has already secured up to $200 million from the Department of Defense to leverage AI for national security applications, the company clearly harbors ambitions for broader integration across the government. This includes expanding into critical areas like scientific research and public health services. Anthropic highlighted current applications, noting that Claude is already being utilized at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to accelerate scientific discoveries and by the District of Columbia Department of Health to facilitate residents’ access to health services in multiple languages.
A key differentiator Anthropic emphasizes is Claude’s ability to meet the government’s highest security standards. Beyond its FedRAMP High certification, the company offers a unique advantage through its multi-cloud access strategy. Government customers can access Claude through their existing secure infrastructure via strategic partnerships with major cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and Palantir. This multi-cloud approach grants agencies greater control over their data, enhancing data sovereignty, infrastructure management, and operational flexibility. This stands in contrast to OpenAI’s current official FedRAMP High offering, which is exclusively tied to Azure Government Cloud. While Azure remains a widely adopted platform within the government, Anthropic’s diversified infrastructure could appeal to agencies prioritizing greater vendor independence and tailored cloud environments. OpenAI, however, is reportedly working to reduce its reliance on Azure, signaling a potential shift towards a more diversified infrastructure approach of its own in the future.