finance
Federal Appeals Court Denies Anthropic's Request to Block Pentagon AI Supply Chain Risk Designation
A US federal appeals court denied Anthropic's emergency request to pause the Pentagon's declaration that the AI company poses a supply chain risk. This ruling conflicts with a lower court decision from March that had favored Anthropic. The decision leaves uncertainty regarding the US military's use of Anthropic's Claude AI model.
Apr 8, 6:27 PM·2m read3 sources
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A federal appeals court has denied Anthropic's request for a stay in its lawsuit against the Department of Defense. The ruling, issued on April 3, 2024, upholds for now the Pentagon's designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk. This decision affects the AI company's ability to engage with US military contracts.
The Pentagon declared Anthropic a risk to the US supply chain in early 2024, citing concerns over potential vulnerabilities in AI technologies. Anthropic filed a lawsuit challenging the designation, arguing it was arbitrary and unlawful. The appeals court's denial means the blacklisting remains in effect pending further litigation.
A lower court in March 2024 issued a preliminary injunction in Anthropic's favor, temporarily blocking the Pentagon's action.
That ruling found the designation likely violated administrative procedures. The appeals court's decision directly contradicts the lower court's order, creating legal uncertainty for Anthropic. Wired reported that the conflicting rulings leave Anthropic in limbo regarding whether the US military can use its Claude AI model.
Claude is Anthropic's flagship large language model, developed for safe and reliable AI applications. The appeals court did not provide detailed reasoning in its brief order.
Dispute Anthropic, founded in 2021, specializes in AI safety research and develops models like Claude to mitigate risks in artificial intelligence.
The company has raised over $7 billion in funding from investors including Amazon and Google. The Pentagon's blacklisting stems from a 2021 executive order aimed at securing the US defense supply chain from foreign adversaries. The Department of Defense has not publicly detailed specific risks posed by Anthropic, which is a US-based company.
