A U.S. judge has ruled that the Department of Defense’s decision to designate artificial intelligence company Anthropic as a supply chain risk was illegal and baseless.
Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI chatbot, argued in its lawsuit that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth exceeded his authority by imposing the designation. The dispute followed Anthropic’s refusal to permit the U.S. military to use its AI models for certain applications, including surveillance and autonomous weapons.
U.S. District Judge Rita Lin said national security concerns “are not a blank check to punish and retaliate against critics of the government.”
The BBC has contacted the Pentagon, the White House and Anthropic for comment.
Anthropic’s lawsuit described the government’s actions as “unprecedented and illegal.” The supply chain risk designation was based on a law intended to protect military systems from foreign sabotage.
It marked the first time a U.S. company had been publicly identified as a supply chain risk under the measure.
Anthropic has said its Claude AI models are not reliable enough to be used safely in military weapons systems. The company has also opposed using the technology for domestic surveillance, describing such applications as potential human rights violations.
The Pentagon previously argued that private technology companies should not be able to restrict military operations through their own policies.
The White House has called Anthropic a “far-left woke company seeking to control military activities” and said the U.S. military is governed by the Constitution, “not the terms of service for a woke AI company.”
Anthropic executives estimate that the supply chain risk designation could cost the company billions of dollars in lost contracts and cause significant reputational damage.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk