Anthropic vs. Pentagon: Partial victory for US government in appeals court
The dispute over Anthropic's classification as a "supply chain risk" is now being fought out in courts. The AI company has now suffered a defeat.
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The AI company Anthropic has suffered a defeat in an appeals court in Washington D.C. in its dispute over classification as a supply chain risk by the Pentagon. As the news agency Reuters reports, the court has temporarily rejected the requested suspension of the classification, thus ruling differently than an appeals court in California. Both proceedings reportedly concern different aspects of the decision by the US Department of Defense, and neither has been finally judged. Anthropic has also assured that it remains confident that it will ultimately prevail in court. For the time being, however, part of the classification remains in effect.
Dispute over red lines
The dispute between Anthropic and the Pentagon began when the US Department of Defense attempted to secure unrestricted access to Anthropic's AI technology for itself and the entire military. This is considered by competitors to be vastly superior and has already been used in various areas. Anthropic had no fundamental objection, but formulated two red lines. The AI company did not want to allow the US government to use its own AI for mass surveillance of the US population and for the development of fully autonomous weapons. The US government was unwilling to agree to this. As a consequence, it classified Anthropic as a "supply chain risk for national security." The dispute is now being fought out in court.
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In Washington D.C., this concerns an aspect that, after coordination within the US government, could lead to Anthropic also being sanctioned by other parts of the US government, explains Reuters. In contrast, the legal interim victory in California was in proceedings concerning only the information systems of the US military. The acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche has therefore already welcomed the decision from the US capital. "Military command authority and operational control lie with the Commander-in-Chief and the Department of War, not with a technology company," Reuters quotes him as saying. In doing so, he used the name for the Department of Defense used by Trump's cabinet.
(mho)
