Anthropic Seeks Rehearing in Pentagon Blacklisting Case

Anthropic is asking a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. to rehear its challenge to the Pentagon's decision to label the company a supply chain risk, according to CNBC. The petition asks the court to reconsider a September ruling that upheld the designation in a 2 to 1 decision.

The U.S. Department of Defense applied the designation in March after negotiations over military use of Anthropic's Claude models collapsed. The action prevents defense contractors from using Anthropic technology in their work for the agency.

In the petition, Anthropic's attorneys wrote that the company was branded a supply chain risk "because it declined to permit its models to be used for mass surveillance of Americans or lethal autonomous warfare and publicly explained those AI-safety commitments," and that the court ignored "straightforward evidence the designation was retaliation for Anthropic's speech about AI safety." In a parallel case, a San Francisco federal judge ruled in August that the department had violated Anthropic's First Amendment rights. A Pentagon spokesperson told CNBC the agency does not comment on pending litigation.