US judge blocks Pentagon’s Anthropic blacklisting

MUMBAI: A US federal judge has blocked the Pentagon from enforcing its blacklisting of artificial intelligence company Anthropic, ruling that the government acted unlawfully in designating the maker of Claude as a national security supply-chain risk.

US District Judge Rita Lin, in a 59-page order, found that the designation lacked a valid legal basis and that the government had violated Anthropic’s constitutional protections.

The dispute followed Anthropic’s refusal to allow the US military to use its Claude AI models for domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons. The company had argued that current AI systems were not sufficiently reliable for autonomous weapons and that domestic surveillance could infringe individual rights.

The Pentagon argued that private companies should not be able to restrict military operations. It also maintained that Anthropic’s restrictions could create uncertainty around the military’s use of Claude and potentially expose operations to disruption.

Anthropic challenged the designation in a California federal court, arguing that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had exceeded his authority. The company also alleged violations of its First Amendment rights and due process protections under the Fifth Amendment.

Judge Lin found that the Pentagon had violated the applicable legal framework and that Anthropic had not been given the required opportunity to contest the designation before it was imposed.

The designation was the first publicly known instance of a US company being classified as a supply-chain risk under the procurement law involved in the case. It also restricted Anthropic’s access to certain military contracts.

Anthropic had warned that the designation could result in billions of dollars in lost business and reputational damage. The company also has a separate lawsuit pending in Washington, DC, over another Pentagon supply-chain risk designation that could affect its eligibility for civilian government contracts.