Microsoft backs Anthropic, urging judge to halt Pentagon’s actions against AI company
SAN FRANCISCO– Microsoft is supporting Anthropic in asking a federal court to block the Trump administration’s designation of the artificial intelligence company as a supply chain risk.
Microsoft, in a court filing, challenges Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s action last week to exclude Anthropic from military work by calling its AI products a threat to national security.
The Pentagon took action against Anthropic after an unusually public dispute over the company’s refusal to authorize unrestricted military use of its Claude AI model. President Donald Trump also said he was ordering all federal agencies to stop using Claude.
“Using a supply chain risk designation to resolve a contract dispute can have serious economic consequences that are not in the public interest,” Microsoft, a major government contractor, said in its filing Tuesday in federal court in San Francisco, where Anthropic sued the Trump administration on Monday.
The Pentagon’s action “requires government contractors to comply with vague and ill-defined instructions that have never before been publicly applied to any U.S. company,” Microsoft’s legal brief says.
He is asking a judge to order the temporary lifting of the designation to allow for a “more reasoned discussion.”
The Pentagon declined to comment, saying it does not comment on matters in dispute.
Microsoft also sided with Anthropic’s two ethical red lines that have been a sticking point in contract negotiations.
“Microsoft also believes that U.S. AI should not be used to conduct national mass surveillance or start war without human control,” Microsoft said. “This position is consistent with the law and widely supported by American society, as recognized by the government.”
The software giant’s court filing follows other filings supporting Anthropic, including one from a group of AI developers from Google and OpenAI, and another from a group of organizations including the Cato Institute and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
