Anthropic, one of the world’s leading artificial intelligence companies, has filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of War after being labeled a “supply chain risk” by the Trump administration.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday in California federal court, alleges that the government unlawfully punished Anthropic for its protected speech. In the filing, Anthropic states: “The Constitution does not allow the government to wield its enormous power to punish a company for its protected speech. Anthropic turns to the judiciary as a last resort to vindicate its rights and halt the Executive’s unlawful campaign of retaliation.”
According to the complaint, the Trump administration and War Secretary Pete Hegseth canceled government contracts with Anthropic and designated it a supply chain risk on February 27. This came just hours after President Donald J. Trump directed federal agencies to cease using Anthropic’s tools.
The dispute centered on negotiations between Anthropic and the Department of War throughout February over the potential use of the company’s AI technology in autonomous weapons systems and its deployment without permission during national emergencies, such as a hypothetical nuclear attack against the United States.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei initially described the administration’s actions as authoritarian but has since attempted to backtrack on his comments. Amodei stated: “We both are committed to advancing U.S. national security and defending the American people, and agree on the urgency of applying AI across the government.”
The lawsuit could set a significant precedent for federal interactions with AI companies and may result in Anthropic losing hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts.
