The company Anthropic has won its first victory in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense, as reported by the BBC.
On Thursday, Judge Rita Lin ruled in favor of the artificial intelligence company, noting that the directives from President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to immediately cease the use of Anthropic's technologies by government agencies cannot be implemented at this time.
Judge Lin pointed out that the government's actions are aimed at "paralyzing the company Anthropic" and suppressing public discussions based on concerns about the application of its technologies in the Department of Defense.
She also added that the current situation resembles "classic retribution under the First Amendment."
This ruling allows the continued use of Anthropic's tools, such as Claude, in both government agencies and private companies working with the military until the conclusion of the legal proceedings.
Representatives from the White House and the Department of Defense did not respond to requests for comments.
A representative of Anthropic expressed satisfaction with the court's decision in California but noted that the company continues to focus on "fruitful collaboration with government agencies to ensure safe and reliable AI for all Americans."
Earlier this month, Anthropic filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense and several other agencies after Trump criticized the company and Hegseth labeled it as a "risk to the supply chain." This is the first instance where such a designation has been applied to an American company.
This designation means that a product or service is not sufficiently safe for use by government entities and has previously been mainly applied to companies from rival countries.
In its lawsuit, Anthropic claims that the government's actions have harmed its business and violated its right to free speech.
During the proceedings, the Pentagon expressed concerns about what Anthropic might do with its technologies, which are widely used in government and military operations, in response to the company's refusal of new contract terms, which led to the need for risk labeling.
Judge Lin also noted that Trump and Hegseth referred to Anthropic as a "progressive" company with "left-wing fanatics," rather than due to its potential unsafety.
The judge added that if it were only about difficulties in securing a contract, the Department of Defense would likely have simply ceased using Anthropic's services. "However, the contested actions significantly exceed the reasonable measures necessary to protect national security interests," she noted.
Anthropic had been negotiating with the Pentagon for several months before filing the lawsuit regarding new requirements related to the expansion of a $200 million contract.
The Pentagon insisted that the contract specify that Anthropic's tools could only be used for "lawful purposes." The company's CEO, Dario Amodei, and his team expressed concerns that this could lead to the use of technologies for mass surveillance of citizens and the creation of autonomous weapons.
The conflict became public in February when Hegseth set a deadline for accepting the new contract terms, and Anthropic refused to do so.
The record "Judge rejected the Pentagon's attempt to 'paralyze' the company Anthropic" first appeared on the K-News website.
