After refusing to remove safety red lines around lethal autonomous weapons, AI unicorn Anthropic was completely blacklisted by the Trump administration. Months later, co-founder Christopher Olah appeared on stage with the Pope to release the first AI encyclical, marking Anthropic's official launch of a political and business diplomatic offensive in Europe.
In February, the Trump administration ordered all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic technology, and the Defense Department for the first time classified a domestic tech company as a security risk. Competitor OpenAI swooped in within hours to replace Anthropic, securing Pentagon defense contracts. To escape domestic political pressure, Anthropic accelerated its pivot to Europe. Over the past year, the company's European revenue has surged nearly tenfold. To advance its political strategy, the company hired Liam Booth-Smith, former chief of staff to the UK Prime Minister, to steer its European expansion.
In Europe, Pope Leo XIV's clear preference for the safety school of thought has provided Anthropic with powerful moral endorsement. By contrast, pro-Trump camp member Peter Thiel, who went to Rome to pitch Silicon Valley accelerationism, received only a cold response from the Vatican. CEO Dario Amodei plans to travel to Rome for high-level talks with Italian officials, seeking to deploy data centers in Southern Europe and attract potential investment. He will then head to London to meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.