DOD says Anthropic’s ‘red lines’ make it an ‘unacceptable risk to national security’

The U.S. Department of Defense said Tuesday evening that Anthropic poses an “unacceptable risk to national security,” marking the first rebuttal to the AI ​​lab’s lawsuits challenging Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision last month to label the company as a supply chain risk. As part of its complaints, Anthropic had asked the court to temporarily block the DOD from enforcing its label.

The core of the DOD’s argument, formulated in a Archive of 40 pages in a federal court in California, the concern is that Anthropic “might attempt to disable its technology or preemptively change the behavior of its model” before or during “warfighting operations” if the company “feels that the company’s ‘red lines’ are being crossed.”

Last summer, Anthropic signed a $200 million contract with the Pentagon to use its technology in classified systems. In later negotiations over the terms of the contract, Anthropic said it did not want its AI systems to be used for mass surveillance of Americans, and that the technology was not ready for use in targeting or firing lethal weapons. The Pentagon disputed that a private company should not dictate how the military uses technology.

Many organizations have spoken out against the DOD’s handling of Anthropic, arguing that the department could have just terminated its contract. Several tech companies and employees — including those at OpenAI, Google and Microsoft — and legal rights groups have filed amicus briefs in support of Anthropic.

In its lawsuits, Anthropic accused the DOD of infringing on its First Amendment rights and punishing the company on ideological grounds.

There will be a hearing next Tuesday on Anthropic’s request for a preliminary injunction.

Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.