Judge says Pentagon's measures against Anthropic were 'illegal and baseless'

A federal judge ruled that the Pentagon's actions against AI company Anthropic were 'illegal and baseless,' after the government labeled the company a supply chain risk in February. U.S. District Judge Rita Lin's written order Thursday night found the measures were based on a desire to make a public example of Anthropic for its criticism, not on evidence of actual sabotage. The ruling blocks the Pentagon's designation and enforcement of a social media directive, though the government is expected to appeal.

Judge says Pentagon's measures against Anthropic were 'illegal and baseless' A federal judge has ruled in favor of artificial intelligence company Anthropic in its legal battle against the Pentagon - Bookmark A federal judge has ruled in favor of artificial intelligence company Anthropic /topic/anthropic in its legal battle against the Pentagon /topic/pentagon after the government labeled the company as a supply chain risk earlier this year. U.S. District Judge Rita Lin issued a written order Thursday night that the Pentagon acted illegally by punishing the AI company for its criticism of the Department of Defense’s views on AI use. The government is expected to fight the ruling. The dispute between the AI company and the government broke out in February when President Donald Trump /topic/donald-trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth /topic/pete-hegseth accused Anthropic of endangering national security and designated the company a supply chain risk. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to back down over concerns the company’s products could be used for mass surveillance or autonomous armed drones. Lin wrote that the government's actions “were based on a desire to make a public example out of Anthropic for its ‘arrogance’ in criticizing the government, not based on any articulable basis to believe that Anthropic would actually sabotage its model.” 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 /topic/americans benefit from this technology.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 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.” 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.