Anthropic says it will challenge Defense Department’s supply chain risk designation in court

In a new blog post, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei admitted to receiving a letter from the Department of Defense, officially calling it a supply chain risk. He said he does not “believe this action is legally valid” and that his company sees “no choice” but to challenge it in court. Hours before Amodei published this message, the Pentagon announced that it had informed the company that its “products are considered a supply chain risk, effective immediately.”

If you recall, the Defense Department (called the War Department under the current administration) threatened to give the company the designation typically reserved for companies from adversaries like China if it didn’t agree to remove its safeguards on mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. President Trump subsequently ordered federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s technology.

Amodei explained that this designation is narrow in scope, as it exists only to protect the government. That’s why the general public, and even Department of Defense contractors, can still use Anthropic’s Claude chatbot and its AI technologies. Microsoft said CNBC that it will continue to use Claude after its lawyers concluded that it can continue to work with Anthropic on non-defense projects.

The CEO also admitted that his company had had “productive conversations” with the ministry over the past few days. He said they were looking for ways to serve the Pentagon as it adheres to its two exceptions, namely that its technology not be used for mass surveillance and the development of fully autonomous weapons, and ways to “ensure a smooth transition if that is not possible.” This confirms reports that Anthropic is once again in talks with the agency with the aim of reaching a new agreement. Additionally, he apologized for a leaked internal memo, in which he reportedly said OpenAI’s message about its own deal with the department was “pure lies.”