A federal judge ruled on Thursday that the Trump administration has failed to provide sufficient proof to justify banning the federal government from using Anthropic technology or labelling the firm a supply chain risk. U.S. District Judge Rita Lin made this determination during a hearing in Washington after the Department of Defense attempted to enforce restrictions stemming from stalled contract negotiations. The dispute began when Anthropic refused to supply its artificial intelligence systems for mass surveillance or lethal targeting, arguing the technology was not yet ready for such uses. The Pentagon countered that a private contractor should not dictate military operations and insisted it would deploy the tools in lawful ways. The administration also argued that Anthropic’s public criticism of the DoD warranted the ban, a logic Judge Lin described as troubling because it risks punishing federal contractors for disagreeing with the government. Lin noted she saw no evidence that Anthropic could disable or alter its models during active warfighting operations, dismissing claims about a potential kill switch as unproven. She is now deciding whether to make her temporary block on the ban permanent. The ruling addresses two separate lawsuits Anthropic filed in March challenging the risk designation.
- The judge rejected the idea that public criticism justifies penalising a federal contractor.
- No evidence was found to support claims that the AI models could be altered remotely.
- The decision leaves the temporary injunction in place while the case continues.
