Anthropic seeks rehearing of case over Pentagon’s security risk branding

Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company, has requested a rehearing before a US appeals court to reconsider a ruling that upheld the Pentagon's classification of the firm as a national security supply chain risk. The decision, made by a federal appeals court in September, agreed with the Pentagon's assessment that Anthropic's safety restrictions could jeopardize military operations.

This designation has resulted in the company losing billions of dollars in potential business. Anthropic argued that the appeals court majority misinterpreted a federal law aimed at hostile foreign actors, transforming it into one that covers all government contractors. The company contends that the Pentagon took swift action against them without a pre-designation process, and without considering that the designation was retaliation for Anthropic's public stance on AI safety.

In a separate lawsuit, a federal judge in California recently ruled against a similar designation under a different law. Anthropic's CEO, Dario Amodei, has called for comprehensive regulation covering all US frontier AI companies, while the Trump administration has advocated for a pro-growth approach.