Anthropic Officially Sues the Pentagon for Labeling the AI Company a 'Supply Chain Risk'

Anthropic filed two lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Defense on Monday over its designation as a “supply chain risk to national security” that would prohibit the AI company from obtaining U.S. government contracts and blacklist it among other defense contractors. The Pentagon labeled the AI company a supply chain risk after it refused to agree to new terms that would allow the U.S. government to use its AI model Claude for mass domestic surveillance and the development of fully autonomous weapons. “These actions are unprecedented and unlawful,” the Anthropic lawsuits read. “The Constitution does not allow the government to wield its enormous power to punish a company for its protected speech. No federal statute authorizes the actions taken here.” The lawsuits, which were filed in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, according to the New York Times, list almost three dozen defendants, including entire government agencies that were using Claude as well as the heads of those agencies. “Seeking judicial review does not change our longstanding commitment to harnessing AI to protect our national security, but this is