U.S. court halts Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic, marking a new chapter in the company’s battle with the military over AI safety in combat zones. Anthropic’s legal action in a California federal court claims that U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth exceeded his authority in labeling Anthropic a national security supply-chain risk without due process. The company argues that this designation violated its First Amendment right to free speech and Fifth Amendment right to due process.
District Judge Rita Lin, appointed by former President Joe Biden, sided with Anthropic in a 43-page ruling. However, the ruling will not be enforced immediately to allow the administration time to appeal. Hegseth’s decision, triggered by Anthropic’s refusal to permit the military’s use of its AI chatbot Claude for U.S. surveillance or autonomous weapons, blocked Anthropic from specific military contracts, potentially causing significant financial losses and reputational damage.
Anthropic contends that AI models lack the reliability required for safe use in autonomous weapons and opposes domestic surveillance as a violation of rights. The Pentagon argues that private companies should not restrict military operations but clarified its intention to use the technology lawfully. In the court ruling, Lin suggested that the government’s actions seemed aimed at punishing Anthropic rather than safeguarding national security interests.
An Anthropic spokesperson, Danielle Cohen, expressed satisfaction with the court’s decision and emphasized the company’s commitment to collaborating with the government for the benefit of all Americans. Anthropic’s designation as a supply-chain risk marked the first public designation of a U.S. company under a government-procurement statute aimed at protecting military systems from foreign sabotage.
The lawsuit claims that the decision was unlawful, lacked factual support, and contradicted the military’s previous positive assessments of Claude. The Justice Department argued that Anthropic’s refusal to comply with restrictions could jeopardize military systems during operations. The government stated that the designation resulted from Anthropic’s rejection of contractual terms, not its stance on AI safety. Anthropic also has a separate lawsuit pending in Washington over another Pentagon supply-chain risk designation that could impact its eligibility for civilian government contracts.