The agreement is similar to OpenAI’s move, which recently made its ChatGPT Enterprise product available to participating agencies under the same pricing model.

The offer extends to the executive, legislative and judicial arms of government. While there is no requirement for agencies to adopt Claude, the deal opens the door for lawmakers, judges and federal workers to integrate the chatbot into day-to-day operations for sensitive but unclassified tasks.

“America’s AI leadership requires that our government institutions have access to the most capable, secure AI tools available,” said Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei. “By offering expanded Claude access across all three branches of government, we’re helping the federal workforce leverage frontier AI capabilities.”

The GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service commissioner, Josh Gruenbaum, said affordability would speed adoption. “The price is going to help uptake from agencies happen that much quicker,” he noted.

Claude has already been deployed in select agencies, including the Department of Defense, and is approved under the FedRAMP High security standard. The government recently added Anthropic’s Claude, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Google’s Gemini to its Multiple Award Schedule, making them official suppliers for AI procurement.

Tech giants see little direct profit from such low-cost agreements. However, they gain valuable insight into how AI is applied in high-value government use cases, intelligence that could change future enterprise products or renewals once the current deals expire.

Discussions are ongoing with other providers, including Meta’s Llama, Elon Musk’s xAI’s Grok, and smaller niche AI platforms. Google is also reportedly negotiating a similar offer for its Gemini chatbot.

The approval process comes against a political backdrop. The White House has pledged to block AI systems found to have “partisan bias or ideological agendas” from doing business with the federal government. 

Critics of existing models, including some of former President Donald Trump’s allies, have claimed that tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini lean towards liberal viewpoints.

Government officials have stressed that approval for procurement does not indicate preference for any particular platform and that all approved models remain subject to ongoing bias reviews.

The announcement came from the General Services Administration (GSA) on Tuesday, confirming that the three AI platforms have been added to the government’s Multiple Award Schedule. 

This change removes the need for agencies to negotiate individual contracts, enabling faster integration of AI into tasks ranging from grant review and tax fraud detection to public comment analysis.

The decision is part of an AI Action Plan unveiled on 23 July, outlining 90 measures intended to strengthen U.S. drive in artificial intelligence. The plan focuses on deregulation, rapid infrastructure expansion, and aggressive AI exports to allied nations. 

It also includes fast-tracked approvals for data centre construction, expanded energy access, and the promotion of an “American AI Technology Stack”, encompassing chips, models, and industry standards.

“This is a fight that will define the 21st century,” President Donald Trump declared, framing the initiative as both a technological and geopolitical contest with China.

The new American AI Exports Programme, jointly managed by the Commerce and State Departments, will coordinate full-stack AI deployments abroad, a move that stands in contrast to the Biden administration’s more guarded approach. 

Under President Joe Biden, export restrictions on high-end AI chips and stringent safeguards on federal AI use were introduced, including measures against misinformation, consumer risks, and discriminatory impacts. Those requirements have now been rolled back.

Instead, the GSA says federal agencies will focus on AI tools “that prioritise truthfulness, accuracy, transparency, and freedom from ideological bias.” The Trump administration has also issued an executive order titled Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government, directing agencies to avoid models deemed politically biased.

The change represents a complete reorientation of how the U.S. government intends to build, deploy, and export AI. For technology companies, it opens the door to lucrative federal contracts. 

For federal agencies, it changes the scope and speed of AI adoption, for international partners, it points to Washington being prepared to use its AI capabilities as a diplomatic and strategic tool.