Court cites refusal to permit AI use in autonomous weapons, mass surveillance
A federal appeals court in Washington ruled 2-1 on Friday that the Defense Department’s decision to designate Anthropic a supply-chain security risk was lawful, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The court held that the statute giving the Pentagon authority to deem a company a supply-chain risk gave Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth the latitude to act against Anthropic. The court reasoned that the company’s refusal to have its AI tools used in mass surveillance or autonomous weapons could undermine military operations.
The decision represents a win for the Trump administration in its dispute with one of the nation’s top artificial-intelligence developers, the Journal reported. The dispute centers on Anthropic’s restrictions on how its AI technology can be deployed by the military. With the appeals court’s ruling, the Defense Department’s supply-chain security risk designation against Anthropic remains in effect.