Court backs Pentagon's Claude ban

A federal appeals court in Washington, DC, on Friday refused to overturn the Defense Department's supply-chain risk designation against Anthropic, allowing the military ban to continue.

Why the Pentagon blocked Claude

The judges found the Defense Department had ample support for its conclusion that integrating Claude into military systems presented a national security risk because Anthropic encodes restrictions into the model.

“The department had ample support for its conclusion that the continued integration of Claude into the department's information systems, by the department or its contractors, presented a statutorily covered national-security risk.”

Anthropic's refusal to compromise

Anthropic executives said the company would not allow the government to deploy its current AI models to support autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth deemed this stance a significant national security risk.

Earlier ruling split the outcome

A federal judge in San Francisco tossed out one supply-chain risk label in March and confirmed that decision last month. Friday's ruling means the other label stays in place indefinitely, allowing the Pentagon's blocking to continue.

Pentagon seeks AI alternatives

The Pentagon hasn't provided detailed updates on replacing Claude with alternatives such as SpaceX's Grok, Google's Gemini, or OpenAI's GPT models. Some Google and OpenAI employees objected to their employers striking military deals that Anthropic rejected.

Anthropic considers next steps

Anthropic spokesperson Danielle Cohen says the company remains confident in its position and is considering all options, which could include appealing to a broader panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals or the US Supreme Court.