Judge temporarily blocks Pentagon’s blacklist of AI company Anthropic

A U.S. judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic, the latest turn in the company’s ‌high-stakes fight with the military over AI safety on the battlefield.

Anthropic’s lawsuit in California federal court alleges that U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth overstepped his authority when he designated Anthropic a national security supply-chain risk, a label the government can apply to companies that expose military systems to potential infiltration or sabotage by adversaries.

Anthropic alleged the government violated its right to free speech under the First Amendment by retaliating against its views on AI safety. The company said it was not given a chance to dispute the designation, in violation of its Fifth Amendment right to due process.

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin, an appointee of former U.S. president Joe Biden, agreed with the company ⁠in a 43-page ruling, but said ⁠it would not take effect for seven days to give ‌the administration a chance to appeal.

Hegseth’s unprecedented move, which followed Anthropic’s opposition to allow the military to use its AI chatbot Claude for U.S. surveillance or autonomous weapons, blocked Anthropic from certain military contracts. Anthropic executives have said it could cost the company billions of dollars in lost business and reputational harm.

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Anthropic says that AI models ⁠are not reliable enough to be safely used in autonomous weapons and that it opposes domestic surveillance as a violation of rights. The Pentagon says private companies should not be able to constrain military action, but also said that the Pentagon is not interested in those uses and would only use the technology in legal ways.

In Thursday’s ruling, Lin said the administration’s actions did not ‌appear to be directed at the government’s stated national security interests, but rather, to punish Anthropic.

“The record supports an inference that Anthropic is being punished for criticizing the government’s contracting position in the press,” Lin wrote.

“Punishing Anthropic for bringing public scrutiny to the government’s contracting position is classic illegal First Amendment retaliation.”

Anthropic spokesperson Danielle Cohen said the company was pleased with the decision.

“While this case was necessary to protect Anthropic, our customers, and our partners, our focus remains on working productively with ⁠the…