US Judge Blocks Pentagon's Anthropic Blacklisting, Citing Free Speech Concerns

• A US judge temporarily blocked the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic, creator of the Claude AI chatbot.
• Anthropic sued, alleging Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth overstepped authority by labeling it a national security supply-chain risk.
• The company claimed violations of its First Amendment right to free speech and Fifth Amendment right to due process.
• Judge Rita Lin's ruling suggested the blacklisting was punishment for Anthropic's criticism of government contracting, not national security.
• Anthropic opposes using its AI for autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance, citing reliability and rights concerns.