Microsoft backs Anthropic in legal challenge against Pentagon

ANKARA

Microsoft has filed a legal brief supporting artificial intelligence company Anthropic in its challenge against Pentagon designation that bars the firm from working with the US government, media reports said Thursday.

The brief was submitted to a federal court in San Francisco as Anthropic seeks to overturn the designation, which it says threatens its ability to continue supplying technology used by government partners, according to The Guardian.

Microsoft said the filing aims to prevent disruptions for suppliers whose systems rely on Anthropic’s artificial intelligence tools.

“The Department of War needs reliable access to the country’s best technology,” Microsoft said in a statement cited in the report.

The company also stressed the need for safeguards to ensure artificial intelligence is not used for mass domestic surveillance or to start conflicts without human control.

“The government, the entire tech sector and the American public need a path to achieve all these goals together,” the statement said.

Several other major technology companies, including Google, Amazon, Apple and OpenAI, also signed the legal brief backing Anthropic.

Anthropic filed two lawsuits Monday — one in a federal court in California and another in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit — challenging the Pentagon’s decision to classify the company as a supply-chain risk.

The designation followed the collapse of negotiations over a $200 million contract to deploy Anthropic’s AI systems on classified military platforms.

Anthropic said it opposed the use of its technology for mass surveillance of US citizens or for autonomous lethal weapons.

“Anthropic currently does not have confidence … that Claude would function reliably or safely if used to support lethal autonomous warfare,” the report quoted the filing as saying.

The company also argued the designation amounted to ideological punishment for its public stance on AI safety.

Pentagon officials have said the designation will not be reconsidered.