Pentagon blacklisting Anthropic ruled unlawful | Latest Tech News
A US decide on Thursday blocked the Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic, the latest flip in the Claude maker’s high-stakes struggle with the army over AI security on the battlefield.
Anthropic’s lawsuit in California federal court alleges that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth overstepped his authority when he designated Anthropic a national security supply-chain risk, a label the federal government can apply to firms that expose army systems to potential infiltration or sabotage by adversaries.
Hegseth’s unprecedented transfer, which blocked Anthropic from sure army contracts, adopted Anthropic’s refusal to permit the army to use its Claude AI fashions for US surveillance or autonomous weapons.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a ceremony at the Pentagon on Aug. 26, 2026. REUTERS
Anthropic executives have said it might price the company billions of {dollars} in misplaced business and reputational hurt.
US District Judge Rita Lin, an appointee of former Democratic President Joe Biden, made the ruling in a 59-page order where she discovered that the Pentagon’s choice was “illegal and baseless.”
“The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics,” she wrote.
Anthropic welcomed the ruling and said in a assertion that it remained “focused on working productively with the government to harness AI for our national security so all Americans benefit from this technology.”
The Pentagon didn’t immediately reply to a request for remark.
Anthropic argues that AI fashions should not dependable enough to be safely used in autonomous weapons and that it opposes home surveillance as a violation of rights, but the Pentagon says personal firms shouldn’t be ready to constrain army motion.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei participates in an interview on “The Circuit with Emily Chang” on April 30, 2026. Bloomberg via Getty Images
US Judge Rita Lin ruled that the Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic was unlawful. Northern District of California Court
Anthropic welcomed the ruling and said in a assertion that it remained “focused on working productively with the government to harness AI for our national security so all Americans benefit from this technology.” SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
The designation made by the Pentagon was the first time a US company has been publicly designated a supply-chain risk under an obscure government-procurement statute aimed at defending army systems from overseas sabotage.
In its March 9 lawsuit, Anthropic alleged the federal government violated its proper to free speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution by retaliating against its views on AI security.
The company said it was not given a probability to dispute the designation, in violation of its Fifth Amendment proper to due course of.
The lawsuit says the choice was unlawful, unsupported by info and inconsistent with the army’s past reward of Claude.
The Justice Department countered that Anthropic’s refusal to elevate the restrictions might trigger uncertainty in the Pentagon over how it might use Claude and risk disabling army systems during operations, according to a court submitting.
The authorities said the designation stemmed from Anthropic’s refusal to settle for contractual phrases, not its views on AI security.
Anthropic has a second lawsuit pending in Washington, DC, over a separate Pentagon supply-chain risk designation that could lead on to its exclusion from civilian authorities contracts.
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