Federal Court Upholds DOD Blacklisting of Anthropic, Blocking AI Firm From Defense Contracts

A federal appeals court upholds the Pentagon's blacklisting of AI company Anthropic, keeping it barred from defense contracts after negotiations collapsed over the DOD's demand for unrestricted model access and Anthropic's refusal to allow its Claude AI in autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance systems.

• A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. denies Anthropic's request to temporarily block the Department of Defense's blacklisting of the AI company, ruling that the balance of interests favors the government over the company's primarily financial concerns.
• In a split legal outcome, Anthropic remains excluded from DOD contracts and defense contractors are barred from using Claude in military work, but a separate San Francisco court ruling allows Anthropic to continue operating with other government agencies.
• The dispute stems from the DOD designating Anthropic a national security supply chain risk in early March after contract negotiations broke down over the Pentagon's demand for unrestricted model access versus Anthropic's refusal to allow use in fully autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance.