Anthropic PBC hired the lobbying firm Ballard Partners as it draws out its fight with the Pentagon, a new public document shows.

The artificial intelligence company hired Ballard Partners—the biggest shop in Washington, which also has strong ties to the Trump administration—just days after the Pentagon designated the company as a supply chain risk, according to a recent lobbying disclosure filing.

Ballard Partners disclosed it was hired to do advocacy “regarding DOW procurement.” DOW stands for Department of War, the Trump administration’s moniker for the Department of Defence.

The Pentagon said it notified Anthropic about its decision to designate it a supply chain risk March 5, Bloomberg reported. Anthropic mounted a legal challenge to the designation, which is usually reserved for foreign adversaries.

Ballard Partners disclosed that its effective date for taking on the client was March 9, according to its recently filed new-client lobbying disclosure.

Negotiations between the Pentagon and Anthropic collapsed after the agency demanded unfettered access to the startup’s tools for lawful purposes, while the AI company sought guarantees that its products wouldn’t be used for fully autonomous weapons deployment or mass surveillance of Americans.

Representatives for Ballard Partners and Anthropic didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ballard is the sixth new outside lobbying hire by Anthropic since November, including retaining Avenue Solutions and Navigators Global earlier this year.

Last month, the AI company also launched its own think tank and named a new head of public policy, Sarah Heck, as part of an expanded presence in Washington.

Anthropic also recently launched a federal political action committee.

Anthropic and OpenAI, along with other companies with a vested interest in government regulations of AI, increased their federal lobbying spending last year.

In Washington, lobbying over AI issues reached an all-time high last year, a Bloomberg Government analysis found. Lobbying firms reported a record $37.2 million in earnings from AI-related influence peddling in the fourth quarter of 2025 alone, a 38 per cent jump from a year earlier.

OpenAI’s spending on federal lobbying rose nearly 70 per cent to almost $3 million in 2025, and Anthropic was up more than 330 per cent to $3.1 million, lobbying disclosures show. OpenAI added a string of in-house lobbying hires globally Friday.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

Published on April 14, 2026