Anthropic loses bid to temporarily block Pentagon blacklisting

A federal appeals court in Washington, DC, on Wednesday rejected Anthropic’s request to temporarily block the Pentagon’s blacklisting of its AI tech while its lawsuit against the Department of War plays out in court.The San-Francisco based AI firm is suing the department for designating it a supply-chain risk last month – alleging retaliation after Anthropic sought to prevent the government from using its tech for mass surveillance and weaponry. “In our view, the equitable balance here cuts in favor of the government,” the appeals court said in its decision Wednesday.“On one side is a relatively contained risk of financial harm to a single private company.On the other side is judicial management of how, and through whom, the Department of War secures vital AI technology during an active military conflict.”In a separate decision last month, a judge in San Francisco federal court granted Anthropic a preliminary injunction during its legal challenge.After the split court decisions, Anthropic is unable to work with the Department of War and other defense contractors are barred from using its Claude chatbot in their work with the Pentagon. Anthropic can still work with other government agencies and defense contractors are allowed to use Claude outside of their interactions with the Pentagon.In its ruling Wednesday, the appeals court said the company “will likely suffer some degree of irreparable harm absent a stay,” but that its concerns “seem primarily financial in nature.” Despite Anthropic’s argument that the Pentagon’s blacklisting restricts its free speech, the court wrote that “Anthropic does not show that its speech has been chilled during the pendency of this litigation.”But the court also said “substantial expedition is warranted” in the case because of the financial harm Anthropic will face during ongoing litigation.“We’re grateful the court recognized these issues need to be resolved quickly and remain confident the co...