‘Attempted corporate murder’ — Judge calls on Anthropic and Department of War to hash out dispute over supply chain risk 

Lawyers for the Department of War and Anthropic sparred in a California federal court on Tuesday over Anthropic’s challenge to the Pentagon labeling it a supply-chain risk to national security and banning all government contractors from using the company’s sweeping AI tools. 

The case—which involves a historic first in that the Pentagon, renamed the Department of War (DOW), labeled a U.S.-led  business as a supply-chain risk to national security—is rooted in a contract negotiation that escalated quickly. The DOW wanted to add a blanket “all lawful use” clause to its contracts with the AI firm so the military could use Anthropic’s Claude tool for any legal purpose. Anthropic balked at the military using Claude for lethal autonomous warfare and mass surveillance of Americans. Anthropic, led by founder Dario Amodei, said it hasn’t thoroughly tested those uses and doesn’t believe they work safely. The DOW claimed those guardrails were unacceptable and that military commanders need latitude to make determinations on missions. 

On Feb. 27, President Trump posted on Truth Social directing “EVERY” federal agency to “IMMEDIATELY CEASE” all use of Anthropic’s tools. That same day in a post on X, Secretary of War Pete H...