Trump administration illegally retaliated against Anthropic, judge rules

A US district judge has declared the Department of Defence's decision to label AI startup Anthropic as a supply chain risk to be illegal and baseless. Anthropic had refused to allow the military to utilize its AI models for purposes such as surveillance or autonomous weapons. The judge, Rita Lin, emphasized that citing national security is not a license to punish and retaliate against government critics.

The lawsuit filed by Anthropic argued that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had overstepped his authority in making the designation. It was the first time an American company had been publicly designated as a supply chain risk, under a law intended to safeguard military systems from foreign sabotage. Anthropic maintained that its models were not reliable enough to be safely used in weapons systems and opposed their use for domestic surveillance, citing violations of rights.

The Pentagon argued that private companies should not be able to impede military action, while the White House had previously labeled Anthropic as a "radical left, woke company" seeking to control military activity. The company estimated that the designation could result in billions of dollars in lost business and reputational damage.