Anthropic filed a lawsuit against U.S. authorities for being added to the Pentagon's blacklist.

Anthropic filed a lawsuit in the federal court of California

The company Anthropic has turned to the federal court of the state of California to challenge the decision by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to list it as a supplier posing a national security threat. In its statement, Reuters notes that Anthropic considers this action unlawful and violates rights to free speech and due judicial process.

> “This decision is unprecedented and contrary to the Constitution: the government cannot use its power to punish a company for protected expressions,” said Anthropic. On that basis it asks the court to overturn the Pentagon’s ruling and prohibit federal agencies from applying it.

Context of the DoD decision

Recently, the Department of Defense announced that Anthropic poses a risk to the supply chain because the company refused to provide military access to its Claude model without restrictions. In particular, the government demanded lifting the ban on using Claude for mass surveillance of citizens and in fully automated weapon systems. According to Reuters, negotiations over these restrictions had been ongoing for several months.

Positions of the parties

Anthropic emphasized that the lawsuit does not mean a refusal to continue negotiations with the Pentagon. The company stated it does not seek to conflict with the U.S. government. In response, a DoD spokesperson announced that talks between the parties have ended.

Additional information

According to media reports, President Donald Trump ordered the cessation of government cooperation with Anthropic, whose investors include Google and Amazon.com. It is expected that a full withdrawal from working with the company will take about six months.