Judge says Pentagon's measures against Anthropic were 'illegal and baseless'

A US federal judge has ruled that the Pentagon's actions against AI company Anthropic were illegal and baseless. According to Judge Rita Lin, the government punished Anthropic for criticizing the Department of Defense's views on AI use, rather than on any legitimate concerns about national security. The dispute began when Anthropic refused to allow the military to use its AI models for US surveillance or autonomous weapons.

The Pentagon had designated Anthropic as a "supply chain risk", a label that could have cost the company billions of dollars in lost business and reputational harm. Judge Lin found that this designation was not justified and was instead intended to make an example of Anthropic for its criticism of the government. The ruling overturns the designation and bars federal agencies from enforcing the sanctions.

Anthropic welcomed the ruling, stating that it remains focused on working productively with the government to harness AI for national security. The government is expected to appeal the decision. According to Handelsblatt, Anthropic had insisted that its AI models not be used for mass surveillance of Americans or in autonomous weapon systems, while the US Department of Defense sought the right to use the technology for "any lawful purpose".

Brief written by urgent.news from NPR, Handelsblatt, The Indian Express, The Guardian US, Associated Press — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.