Anthropic sues Defense Department over supply chain risk designation

Anthropic filed suit against the Department of Defense on Monday after the agency labeled it a supply chain risk. The complaint calls the DOD’s actions “unprecedented and unlawful.”

Anthropic has made good on its promise to challenge the Department of Defense in court after the agency labeled it a supply chain risk late last week.

The Claude maker filed two complaints against the Department on Monday in California and Washington D.C. after a weeks-long conflict between Anthropic and the DOD over whether the military should have unrestricted access to Anthropic’s AI systems. Anthropic had two firm red lines: it didn’t want its technology to be used for mass surveillance of Americans and didn’t believe it was ready to power fully autonomous weapons with no humans making targeting and firing decisions.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argued that the Pentagon should have access to AI systems for “any lawful purpose” and that it shouldn’t be limited by a private contractor.