US Judge Blocks Pentagon Ban on Anthropic

A US federal judge has blocked the Pentagon from blacklisting Anthropic, the company behind the Claude artificial intelligence (AI) system.

Judge Rita Lin ruled that the US Department of Defense acted illegally when it classified Anthropic as a national security supply-chain risk. She said national security concerns cannot be used to punish a company for criticising government policies.

The dispute began after Anthropic refused to allow the US military to use its Claude AI models for autonomous weapons and domestic surveillance. The company argues that current AI systems are not reliable enough for autonomous weapons and has raised concerns about surveillance.

The Pentagon subsequently blocked Anthropic from military contracts, a decision the company said could cost it billions of dollars.

In her ruling, Judge Lin criticised the Pentagon's actions and said the government had targeted Anthropic because of its position on AI safety.

Anthropic welcomed the decision, saying it remained committed to working with the US government on using AI for national security purposes.

The US government is expected to appeal the ruling, while the Pentagon has not yet issued an immediate response.

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