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AI · Government Contracts · Lawsuit · National Security
Anthropic filed a lawsuit on March 9 to block the Pentagon from placing it on a national security blacklist, escalating the AI lab’s high-stakes battle with the U.S. military over usage restrictions on its technology for autonomous weapons and domestic surveillance.
The Pentagon designated Anthropic a formal supply-chain risk after the startup refused to remove guardrails against using its AI for such purposes, a technology two sources said was being used for military operations in Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made the designation, and Trump, in a social media post, ordered the entire government to quit using Claude.
Anthropic filed a second lawsuit on Monday, challenging a broader supply chain risk designation that could blacklist it across the entire civilian government. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives stated this dispute could cause enterprises to halt Claude deployments.
Anthropic's investors are racing to contain the damage. OpenAI, a competitor, announced a deal to use its technology in the Defense Department network shortly after Hegseth moved to blacklist Anthropic, with CEO Sam Altman stating alignment on human oversight and opposing mass U.S. surveillance.
The Defense Department signed agreements worth up to $200 million each with major AI labs, including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google, in the past year.
Anthropic Sues Pentagon Over AI Military Use Ban(current)
