Anthropic has initiated legal proceedings to challenge the U.S. Department of Defense's decision to place the company on a national security restricted list. This follows a recent communication from the DoD that classified Anthropic as a supply chain risk, with CEO Dario Amodei previously indicating the firm would pursue legal remedies, as reported by Engadget.
The litigation asserts that the designation violates constitutional protections, particularly regarding free speech and due process. In a statement released by Reuters, Anthropic emphasized that "these measures are unprecedented and unlawful. The Constitution does not permit the government to use its substantial authority to penalize a company for exercising its right to protected expression."
Engadget obtained a statement from an Anthropic spokesperson, which read: “Pursuing judicial review does not alter our dedication to leveraging AI for national security purposes. However, it is essential to safeguard our business, customers, and partners. We remain committed to exploring all avenues for resolution, including engaging in dialogue with the government.”
The lawsuit frames the government’s actions as an “unprecedented and unlawful campaign of retaliation,” asserting that “the Constitution prohibits the government from using its considerable power to punish a company for its protected speech. No federal law authorizes these measures.”
This legal move follows weeks of escalating tensions between the AI firm and the government. In late February, reports surfaced that the Department of Defense and Secretary Pete Hegseth had urged Anthropic to remove specific safeguards from its AI systems. Amodei made it clear the company would not compromise its ethical stance, declining to allow its model to be used for mass surveillance or autonomous weapon development.
On the February 27 deadline, Amodei refused to comply, prompting Hegseth to threaten the company with the supply chain risk designation and to cancel its $200 million contract. That same day, President Trump ordered federal agencies to cease using Anthropic services. Despite this, according to the lawsuit, Anthropic had agreed to “cooperate with the Department on a smooth transition to another AI provider that meets its requirements.”
OpenAI entered the situation swiftly, securing a deal with the Department of Defense. At the time, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman highlighted two key safety principles: “prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including autonomous weapons”—issues that had sparked controversy with Anthropic. OpenAI later amended its contract to include a clause stating that “the AI system shall not be intentionally used for domestic surveillance of U.S. persons and nationals.”
Despite this, OpenAI’s head of robotics hardware resigned from the company over the Defense Department agreement. Caitlin Kalinowski, who posted on X, stated, “Surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they received.”