A U.S. judge said on Tuesday that the Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic appeared to be an attempt to punish the artificial intelligence firm for publicly raising concerns about military AI safety.
Anthropic’s lawsuit in a California federal court alleges that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth exceeded his authority by designating the company a national security supply-chain risk, a label used for firms seen as exposing military systems to potential infiltration or sabotage.
U.S. District Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco, an appointee of former Democratic President Joe Biden, said during a court hearing that the designation “looks like an attempt to cripple Anthropic.”
The hearing concerns Anthropic’s request for a temporary order blocking the designation while the case plays out. Lin said at the end of the hearing that she would rule in a written order within the next few days.
The unprecedented designation, which followed Anthropic’s refusal to allow the military to use its Claude AI software for U.S. surveillance or autonomous weapons, blocks Anthropic from certain military contracts. It could cost the company billions of dollars this year in lost business and reputational harm, Anthropic executives said on March 9.
The company says AI models are not reliable enough to be safely used in autonomous weapons and that it opposes domestic surveillance as a violation of rights.
Unprecedented Supply-Chain Label
Anthropic’s designation was the first time a U.S. company has been publicly designated a supply-chain risk under an obscure government-procurement statute aimed at protecting military systems from foreign sabotage.
In its March 9 lawsuit, Anthropic alleged the government violated its right to free speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution by retaliating against its views on AI safety. The company said it was not given a chance to dispute the designation, in violation of its Fifth Amendment right to due process.
During Tuesday’s hearing, a lawyer for Anthropic said the Pentagon was using a flawed interpretation of federal procurement law to retaliate against Anthropic for its negotiating position.
Justice Department lawyer Eric Hamilton said Anthropic’s pushback against lawful uses of its technology convinced the Defense Department that it could not rely on the company going forward and that the designation was appropriate to secure its systems.
Anthropic has a second lawsuit pending in Washington, D.C., over a separate Pentagon supply-chain risk designation that could lead to its exclusion from civilian government contracts.
(With inputs from Reuters)
