Anthropic scores a major legal win as a judge strikes down the Pentagon’s AI blacklist

US District Judge Rita Lin just ruled that the Pentagon illegally penalized Anthropic with its “supply chain risk” designation. Earlier this year, the Pentagon branded the company a national security risk after negotiations broke down. At the time, Anthropic was still insisting on ethical guardrails banning mass surveillance and fully automated warfare. 

The court has now found that the Defense Department weaponized its supply chain authority to publicly discipline Anthropic, noting that the government lacked any logical justification for its national security claim.

“Neither the Constitution nor the federal statute invoked by Defendants allows them to impose sweeping penalties based principally on Anthropic’s critique of the Administration’s views,” Judge Lin contended.

Judge Lin criticized the government’s decision to blacklist Anthropic as arbitrary

For some time, the Pentagon had been negotiating with four leading AI companies, including Anthropic, over allowing the military to use their technology for highly sensitive defense and intelligence operations. The Claude maker, however, held its ground, maintaining that mass surveillance and autonomous warfare were off limits for its models.

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