A federal appeals court has rejected an AI lab's challenge to the U.S. government's designation of the company as a supply chain risk, allowing the Pentagon to continue removing Anthropic's Claude models from its systems and prohibit their use for Defense Department work.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 in favor of the Pentagon on Friday. The dispute originated in February when concerns were raised about Anthropic's products potentially being used for mass surveillance or autonomous armed drones.
In its ruling, the court stated, "The Department reasonably feared that Anthropic might manipulate Claude’s design to prevent it from performing national-security functions that the Department deems contractually authorized and necessary." This decision stems from a different legal avenue than a prior ruling where a federal judge in California found the Pentagon acted illegally in punishing the company for its criticism of the Pentagon's stance on AI usage.
An Anthropic spokesperson expressed disagreement with the court's decision, noting that another federal court had previously found the government's parallel designation unlawful. The company stated it is confident in its position and is considering further review options. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.