March 9 (UPI) — Artificial intelligence company Anthropic filed a lawsuit Monday against the federal government for labeling it a supply-chain risk, a designation that is usually reserved for companies doing business with the Chinese government that are a major national security risk.
The Anthropic lawsuit alleges that the Pentagon applied the designation inappropriately to punish it on ideological grounds.
The suit comes after a fight between the company and the Department of Defense over Anthropic’s concerns about unlimited use of AI in defense.
In July, Anthropic signed a $200 million contract with the Pentagon. But CEO Dario Amodei said that Anthropic’s AI model Claude could not be used for mass surveillance in the United States or for autonomous weapons without human approval.
On Feb. 27, the Pentagon gave Anthropic a 5 p.m. deadline to comply with its demands that the government be able to use the service as it sees fit.
Before the deadline, President Donald Trump announced that no government workers would be allowed to use Anthropic.
On Thursday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth labeled Anthropic a supply-chain risk, which blocks it from any government contracts.
The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and the company said it also would file a suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
“Seeking judicial review does not change our longstanding commitment to harnessing AI to protect our national security, but this is a necessary step to protect our business, our customers, and our partners,” CNN reported an Anthropic spokesperson said in a statement. “We will continue to pursue every path toward resolution, including dialogue with the government.”
The suit alleges that the Pentagon is infringing on Anthropic’s right to free speech, exceeding the legal scope of the supply-chain risk statute and that Trump and Hegseth exceeded their authority by trying to cancel the company’s government contracts without following procedures.
“These actions are unprecedented and unlawful,” Anthropic said in the complaint. “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. Anthropic turns to the judiciary as a last resort to vindicate its rights and halt the Executive’s unlawful campaign of retaliation.”
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