"Trump administration illegally retaliated against Anthropic, judge rules" 28 August 2026

A judge has ruled the US Department of Defense acted unlawfully when it designated artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic a supply chain risk, calling the move "illegal and baseless".

The company argued in the lawsuit that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth overstepped his authority with the new designation. It followed Anthropic's refusal to allow the military to use its AI models for tasks including surveillance or autonomous weapons...

...It marked the first time an American company had been publicly designated as such...

...The Claude maker said its models were not reliable enough to be safely used in weapons systems for the military. It added that it opposed its use for domestic surveillance as a violation of rights.

The Pentagon said at the time that private companies should not be able to constrain military action...