Court rules Pentagon illegally excluded Anthropic from AI deal process

Earlier this year, the US Defense Department, the Pentagon, signed agreements with seven AI companies for military use of their technology.

But the company Anthropic was excluded after it had a dispute with the Department of Defense over how much access the Pentagon would have to its technology. That led the Department of Defense to classify Anthropic as a risky supplier.

Now a federal judge has ruled that the Pentagon's exclusion of Anthropic is illegal.

"The empty reference to national security is not a carte blanche to punish and retaliate against government critics," Judge Rita Lin wrote in the ruling.