The US Department of Defense described Anthropic as a threat to national security, stating it is an “unacceptable risk to national security,” in its first response to the company’s lawsuit over its supply chain designation.
Previously, Anthropic had requested the court to temporarily block the DOD from enforcing its label.
DOD argued in the court with a 40-page filing in a California federal court, stating Anthropic might “attempt to disable its technology or preemptively alter the behavior of its model” before or during “warfighting operations” if the company “feels that its corporate ‘red lines’ are being crossed.”
Previously, the Claude AI manufacturer signed a deal of $200 million with Pentagon to deploy its models within classified systems.
Later on, Anthropic stated that it did not want its AI systems to be used for the mass surveillance of US citizens, prompting the Pentagon to cancel the agreement, labelling it as “supply chain risk.”
Notably, the deal was later signed by OpenAI.
This move provoked many organizations to speak out against the DOD’s treatment of Anthropic, arguing that the department could have just ended its contract.
Anthropic filed a lawsuit against DOD, accusing it of infringing on its First Amendment rights and punishing the company based on ideological grounds.
Anthropic’s hearing for a preliminary injunction is scheduled for next Tuesday.
