Anthropic is gathering a growing number of supporters in its fight against the U.S. Department of Defense. Last month, the Pentagon designated the AI lab a supply chain risk after refusing to make concessions on how its AI could be used in the military.
In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CNBC reported, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) equated the Pentagon’s decision with “retaliation” and argued that the Pentagon could have simply terminated the contract with the AI lab.
“I am particularly concerned that the Pentagon is trying to coerce U.S. companies into providing the Pentagon with the tools to spy on American citizens and deploy fully autonomous weapons without appropriate safeguards,” Warren said, adding that Antropic’s ban “appears to be retaliation.”
Warren’s words echo those of many other organizations speaking out against the Department of Defense’s treatment of humanity. Several technology companies and their employees, including OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft, as well as legal rights groups, have filed court briefs supporting Anthropic and condemning the designation. This designation typically applies to foreign adversaries rather than U.S. companies.
The controversy arose after Anthropic told the Pentagon that it did not want its AI system to be used for mass surveillance of Americans and that the technology was not ready to be used to determine the targeting or firing of autonomous lethal weapons without human intervention. The Pentagon objected, saying private companies shouldn’t decide how the military uses technology, and designated the company a “supply chain risk” shortly after. The label requires companies and agencies working with the Department of Defense to certify that they are not using the designated companies’ products or services, effectively prohibiting Anthropic from working with companies that work with the U.S. government.
Warren’s letter comes a day before a hearing in San Francisco on Tuesday, where District Judge Rita Lin will decide whether to grant Anthropic a preliminary injunction to maintain the status quo while the lawsuit against the Pentagon is pursued.
Anthropic is suing the Pentagon for violating its First Amendment rights and punishing it on ideological grounds, but the Pentagon argues that Anthropic’s denial of all legitimate military uses for its technology was a business decision, not protected speech, and that the designation was simply a national security requirement, not a punishment for its views.
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AI Lab filed two declarations in court last week arguing that the government’s logic is flawed because it relies on technical misunderstandings and concerns that were not raised during the company’s negotiations with the Department of Defense.
Warren also sent a letter to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman asking for details of the company’s agreement with the Department of Defense, which came just one day after the Pentagon blacklisted Anthropic.
Antropic and the Department of Defense did not respond to requests for comment.
