The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the Department of Defense's decision to blacklist AI developer Anthropic. The ruling declines to block an order labeling the startup a national security risk. Judges determined the Pentagon's move to exclude Anthropic from its supply chain had ample support.
The court rejected Anthropic's claims that the designation was unconstitutional. The exclusion resulted from the company's refusal to accept a contract term the government considered essential. The ruling clarified the ban was not retaliation for the company's public speech.
The dispute arose after safety restrictions encoded into Anthropic's AI, Claude, prevented it from performing tasks requested by government users. These limitations created operational uncertainty for the DOD.