US judge blocks Pentagon's Anthropic blacklisting

A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic, the latest turn in the Claude maker's high-stakes fight with the military over AI safety on the battlefield.

Anthropic's lawsuit in California federal court alleges that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth overstepped his authority when he designated Anthropic a national security supply-chain risk, a label the government can apply to companies that expose military systems to potential infiltration or sabotage by adversaries.

The designation, which blocked Anthropic from certain military contracts, followed Anthropic's refusal to allow the military to use its Claude AI models for U.S. surveillance or autonomous weapons. Anthropic executives have said it could cost the company billions of dollars in lost business and reputational harm.