Faced with the threat of blacklisting from the U.S. Department of Defense, Anthropic PBC expects the standoff over artificial intelligence (AI) security to lead to a legal battle.The U.S. Department of Defense has formally informed Anthropic management that the company and its products are considered a supply chain risk with immediate effect, a senior Defense Department official said Thursday. The Department of War is Defense Secretary Hegseth's current preferred title for the Department of Defense.
"We believe this action is legally untenable and we have no choice but to go to court," Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a blog post on Thursday.
Although the above-mentioned official said that the relevant decision was "effective immediately," according to a person familiar with the matter, Anthropic's Claude AI tool is still actively used by the US military in the war against Iran. On Friday, Hegseth issued a warning to the company, proposing a six-month transition period for switching AI suppliers.
It was unclear under what authority the Pentagon relied on to designate the company as a supply chain threat.
"From the beginning, this has been about a fundamental principle: The military needs to be able to use technology for all legitimate purposes," the official said. "The military will never allow a single vendor to jeopardize the safety of our warfighters by intervening in the chain of command by limiting the legitimate use of a critical capability."