The race to get into Washington is heating up. Anthropic is now offering its powerful Claude AI model to the entire US government for the low price of just $1. The move comes just a week after its main rival, OpenAI, made an almost identical deal.
The $1 deal gives all three branches of the federal government access to Anthropic’s top-tier “Claude for Enterprise” for one year. It also includes “Claude for Government,” a special version designed to handle sensitive but unclassified work, which is a major selling point for federal agencies.
This isn’t happening in a vacuum. Both deals follow a recent decision by the General Services Administration to add Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google’s Gemini to a list of approved AI vendors. Anthropic is also no stranger to government work; it already has a deal with the Department of Defense to develop military applications for its AI.
However, working with the Trump administration comes with strings attached. The administration’s AI Action Plan requires that any AI used by the government must be “free from top-down ideological bias.” President Trump has been very clear that this includes not favoring what he calls “ideological dogmas such as DEI.”
This latest $1 deal shows just how eager AI companies are to build close relationships with policymakers in Washington, even if it means practically giving away their products. It’s a clear strategy to get a foot in the door for future, more profitable government contracts.
