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Anthropic is attracting an increasing number of supporters in its fight against the U.S. Department of Defense, which last month designated the AI lab as a supply-chain risk<\/a> after it refused to make concessions on how its AI could be used by the military.<\/p>\n In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) equated the DOD\u2019s decision with \u201cretaliation,\u201d arguing that the Pentagon could simply have terminated its contract with the AI lab, CNBC reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI am particularly concerned that the DoD is trying to strong-arm American companies into providing the Department with the tools to spy on American citizens and deploy fully autonomous weapons without adequate safeguards,\u201d Warren wrote, per the report, adding that the barring of Anthropic \u201cappears to be retaliation.\u201d<\/p>\n Warren\u2019s words echo many other organizations that have spoken out against the Defense Department\u2019s treatment of Anthropic. Several tech companies and employees \u2014 including from OpenAI, Google<\/a>, and Microsoft \u2014 as well as legal rights groups, have filed amicus briefs in support of Anthropic and denouncing the designation, which is usually applied to foreign adversaries<\/a> and not U.S. firms.\u00a0<\/p>\n The dispute arose after Anthropic told the Pentagon<\/a> that it did not want its AI systems to be used for mass surveillance of Americans and that the technology wasn\u2019t ready for use in targeting or firing decisions of lethal autonomous weapons without human intervention. The Pentagon contested that a private company shouldn\u2019t dictate how the military uses technology, and soon after designated the company as a \u201csupply-chain risk.\u201d The label requires any company or agency that does work with the Pentagon to certify that it doesn\u2019t use the designated company\u2019s products or services\u00a0\u2014\u00a0effectively barring Anthropic from working with any company that also works with the U.S. government.<\/p>\n The letter from Warren comes a day before a hearing in San Francisco on Tuesday, when District Judge Rita Lin will decide whether to grant Anthropic a preliminary injunction that seeks to preserve the status quo while its case against the DOD<\/a> is litigated.<\/p>\n While Anthropic is suing the DOD for infringing on its First Amendment rights and for punishing the company based on ideological grounds, the Defense Department has maintained<\/a> that Anthropic\u2019s refusal to allow all lawful military uses of its technology was a business decision, not protected speech, and that the designation was a straightforward national security call and not punishment for the company\u2019s views.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span> The AI lab last week submitted two declarations to the court that claim the government\u2019s logic is flawed<\/a> as they depend on technical misunderstandings as well as points of concern that were not raised during the company\u2019s negotiations with the DOD.<\/p>\n Warren has also written to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, asking for details of the company\u2019s agreement with the DOD<\/a>, which came just a day after the Pentagon blacklisted Anthropic.<\/p>\n Anthropic and the Defense Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n