San Francisco (United States) (AFP) – A US federal judge on Thursday suspended sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration on Anthropic, saying the measures likely violated the law in blacklisting the AI powerhouse for expressing unease about the Pentagon’s use of its technology. In the northern district of California, Judge Rita Lin granted Anthropic’s request for a preliminary injunction in its suit against the government, freezing a presidential order that barred all federal agencies from using Anthropic technology.
The ruling also suspends a Pentagon designation of Anthropic, creator of the Claude AI model, as a national security supply chain risk — a label typically reserved for organizations from unfriendly foreign countries. The designation not only blocks use of the company’s technology by the Pentagon, but also requires all defense vendors and contractors to certify that they do not use Anthropic’s models in their work with the department.
“We’re grateful to the court for moving swiftly, and pleased they agree Anthropic is likely to succeed on the merits,” a company spokesperson said. “While this case was necessary to protect Anthropic, our customers, and our partners, our focus remains on working productively with the government to ensure all Americans benefit from safe, reliable AI.”
The dispute erupted last month after Anthropic infuriated Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth by insisting its technology should not be used for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons systems. Hegseth said on X that Anthropic had “delivered a master class in arrogance and betrayal as well as a textbook case of how not to do business with the United States Government or the Pentagon.”
The tech sector has largely supported Anthropic in the wake of the punitive measures, which were suspended for seven days by Thursday’s ruling to allow the government time to file an emergency appeal in the short term. At a hearing earlier this week, Lin said she was concerned that the government was “trying to punish Anthropic… for criticizing the government’s contracting position in the press,” which would be a violation of the constitutional right to freedom of expression.
In her ruling, she said the government’s designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk was “likely both contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious.” “Nothing in the governing statute supports the Orwellian notion that an American company may be branded a potential adversary and saboteur of the US for expressing disagreement with the government,” she wrote. Lin also cited other “serious procedural problems with the government’s actions” as reasons for issuing the injunction.
© 2024 AFP
