US court upholds Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic

A US appeals court has upheld the Department of Defense’s decision to exclude Anthropic from its supply chain after the AI startup refused to remove certain safeguards on its Claude model. The blacklisting, enacted in March, resulted in the cancellation of military contracts and barred other Defense Department contractors from using its technology. The decision has cost Anthropic billions in lost business and damaged its reputation ahead of a highly anticipated IPO, despite the company’s significant role in the AI sector. The ruling conflicts with a previous federal court decision that found a broader ban imposed by the Trump administration illegal.