A federal court on Friday rejected Anthropic’s request to overturn the US Department of Defense decision to exclude the company from government contracts after it was deemed a national security risk.
The Pentagon had expressed concern that Anthropic’s Claude model could “refuse” to carry out certain military orders. It therefore banned its use by US Army contractors when they are working for the Department of Defense.
Anthropic took the matter to court, arguing that being labelled “dangerous” to the security of its supply chain had cost the company billions of dollars and damaged its reputation ahead of a highly anticipated initial public offering.
At the end of August, a judge in San Francisco had overturned other sanctions imposed on the company by President Donald Trump’s administration. These included an order requiring all federal agencies to stop using Claude.
However, the Washington court ruled that, since Anthropic can impose restrictions on what its model does, the ban on the use of Claude by the Department of Defense is legitimate.
Source: CNA
