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A U.S. judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Pentagon from blacklisting Anthropic. This is the latest development in a high-stakes battle between the company and the military over the safety of AI on the battlefield.
Anthropic’s lawsuit in California federal court alleges that U.S. Army Secretary Pete Hegseth overstepped his authority by designating Anthropic as a national security supply chain risk, a label the government can apply to companies that expose military systems to potential intrusion or sabotage by adversaries.
Antropic argued that the government retaliated against its views on the safety of AI and violated its First Amendment right to free speech. The company said it was not given an opportunity to challenge the designation, in violation of its due process rights under the Fifth Amendment.
U.S. District Judge Rita Lin, appointed by former President Joe Biden, agreed with the company in a 43-page ruling but said it would not take effect until seven days later to give the administration a chance to appeal.
Hegseth’s unprecedented move follows Anthropic’s opposition to allowing the military to use its AI chatbot Claude for U.S. surveillance and autonomous weapons, and blocked Anthropic from certain military contracts. Anthropic executives said the move could cost the company billions of dollars in business and reputational damage.
Amid the rapid global advancement and deployment of artificial intelligence technology, the federal government has invested millions of dollars to combine the wisdom of three existing laboratories into one that can monitor potential dangers in the future.
Anthropic says its AI models are not reliable enough to be safely used in autonomous weapons and opposes domestic surveillance as a rights violation. While the Pentagon said private companies should not be able to limit military operations, it said it was not interested in such applications and would only use the technology in lawful ways.
In Thursday’s ruling, Lin said the government’s actions were not directed toward the government’s stated national security interests, but rather appeared aimed at punishing Anthropic.
“This record supports the inference that Mr. Anthropic is being punished for criticizing the government’s reductive positions in the press,” Lin wrote.
“Punishing Anthropic for bringing public scrutiny to the government’s compromising positions is classic unlawful First Amendment retaliation.”
Anthropic spokesman Daniel Cohen said the company was pleased with the decision.
“While this lawsuit was necessary to protect Anthropic, our customers, and partners, our company remains focused on working productively with the government to ensure all Americans receive the benefits of safe and reliable AI,” Cohen said in a statement.
Anthropic’s designation marks the first time a U.S. company has been publicly designated as a supply chain risk under opaque government acquisition laws aimed at protecting military systems from foreign sabotage.
Anthropic’s March 9 lawsuit says the decision is illegal, unsupported by facts and inconsistent with the military’s past praise for Claude.
The Justice Department countered that Anthropic’s refusal to lift the restrictions created uncertainty about how the Pentagon could use Claude and risked disabling military systems during operations, according to court filings.
The government said the designation stemmed from Anthropic’s refusal to accept the terms of the contract, not its views on the safety of AI.
Anthropic is pursuing a second lawsuit in Washington over the Department of Defense’s separate supply chain risk designation that could lead to exclusion from civilian government contracts.
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