US Judge Blocks Pentagon's Anthropic Blacklisting Over AI Safety Dispute

• A U.S. judge temporarily blocked the Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic, the Claude maker, amidst a high-stakes fight over AI safety on the battlefield.
• Anthropic sued, alleging Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth overstepped authority by designating the company a national security supply-chain risk.
• The blacklisting followed Anthropic's refusal to allow military use of Claude for U.S. surveillance or autonomous weapons, potentially costing billions.
• Anthropic argues AI models are not reliable for autonomous weapons and opposes domestic surveillance, while the Pentagon asserts private companies shouldn't constrain military action.
• This was the first time a U.S. company was publicly designated a supply-chain risk under a statute protecting military systems from foreign sabotage.