AI firm Anthropic plans court fight after Pentagon labels it a supply-chain risk, blocking Pentagon contracts
San Francisco: Dario Amodei said Thursday that Anthropic plans to challenge the Department of Defense’s decision to label the AI firm a supply chain risk in court.
The Pentagon officially designated Anthropic a supply chain risk following weeks of disputes over military control of AI systems. The label can prevent a company from working with the Pentagon and its contractors.
Amodei said Anthropic’s AI will not be used for mass surveillance or for fully autonomous weapons. But the Pentagon wanted unrestricted access to AI for lawful purposes.
Amodei said the label applies only to contracts with the Department of War. He said it does not affect all use of Claude by customers who have Department contracts.
Ahead of a likely court challenge, Amodei noted that the designation aims to protect the government rather than punish a supplier.
He said the law requires the Secretary of War to use the least restrictive means necessary, so the label cannot stop unrelated uses.
The conflict followed an internal memo Amodei wrote characterizing OpenAI’s dealings with the Pentagon as “safety theater.” In his public statement, he apologized for the tone, calling the memo an out of date assessment from a difficult day.
Amodei said he had productive conversations with the Department of Defense and that the company leaked or intentionally shared the memo.
Amodei said Anthropic’s top priority is to keep American soldiers and national security experts using their tools during major combat operations. The company currently supports some U.S. operations in Iran and will continue providing models to the Pentagon at low cost for as long as needed.
The company expects to challenge the designation in federal court in Washington, where the law makes it harder to contest such decisions since it limits the usual ways companies can challenge government procurement and gives the Pentagon broad discretion on national security matters.
A former White House adviser said courts rarely second guess government on national security issues, but it’s not impossible to win.