The conflict with Anthropic emerged in February when the government alleged that the company posed a threat to national security.
WASHINGTON — In a legal clash with the Pentagon, artificial intelligence firm Anthropic emerged victorious as a federal judge sided with the company. The government’s earlier claims had labeled Anthropic as a potential risk to the supply chain.
In a decisive turn of events, U.S. District Judge Rita Lin delivered a written order late Thursday. She declared that the Pentagon’s punitive measures against the AI firm were illegal, spurred by Anthropic’s criticism of the Department of Defense’s stance on AI technology. The government is anticipated to appeal this decision.
The origin of this dispute dates back to February when President Donald Trump, along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, accused Anthropic of compromising national security, subsequently designating it as a supply chain risk. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, stood firm, voicing concerns over the use of their technology in mass surveillance and autonomous weaponry.
Judge Lin noted the government’s actions appeared to stem from a desire to make an example out of Anthropic for its “arrogance” in challenging governmental positions, rather than any genuine fear of sabotage by the company.
An Anthropic spokesperson said in a statement that they welcome the judge’s ruling: “We remain focused on working productively with the government to harness AI for our national security so all Americans benefit from this technology.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the 59-page ruling, Lin, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, wrote that neither the Constitution nor the federal statute the government invoked allows them to “impose sweeping penalties based principally on Anthropic’s critique of the Administration’s views.”
Anthropic sued the Pentagon over the supply chain risk designation in March for what it called an “unlawful campaign of retaliation” over its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its technology.
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The legal challenge intensified an unusually public dispute over how AI can be used in warfare and mass surveillance. Anthropic’s primary tech industry rival, ChatGPT maker OpenAI, made its own deal to work with the Pentagon just hours after the government punished Anthropic for its stance.
Anthropic and OpenAI are each ramping up for buzzy initial public offerings.
Anthropic has also filed a separate and narrower case that is still pending in the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. That case involves a different rule the Pentagon is using to try to declare Anthropic a supply chain risk.
Earlier in the legal proceedings, Lin had temporarily blocked the Pentagon from labeling the company as a supply chain risk and blocked enforcement of Trump’s social media directive ordering all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic and its chatbot Claude.
In a hearing July 30, Lin had said that the government’s position was “really troubling” to her and that it seemed “at odds to me with the First Amendment.” She also said she believed the record had “gotten worse for the government” over time.
In that same hearing, Department of Justice lawyers argued that the nature of AI models is “so staggeringly enormous and opaque” that the Defense Department cannot evaluate it in the same way it would a physical piece of hardware.
Anthropic lawyer Michael Mongan said in that hearing that the government’s actions “profoundly harm Anthropic” and that they “threaten more broadly to chill speech and debate on a very important issue.”
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