Anthropic sues Trump administration over Pentagon blacklist

U.S. President Donald Trump, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth behind, speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on a flight from Dover, Delaware, to Miami, Florida, U.S., March 7, 2026.

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

Anthropic filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday after the artificial intelligence startup was blacklisted and labeled a threat to U.S. national security.

The company said in a complaint that these actions are “unprecedented and unlawful,” and that they are “harming Anthropic irreparably.” The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

“Anthropic’s contracts with the federal government are already being canceled. Current and future contracts with private parties are also in doubt, jeopardizing hundreds of millions of dollars in the near-term,” the filing says. “On top of those immediate economic harms, Anthropic’s reputation and core First Amendment freedoms are under attack. Absent judicial relief, those harms will only compound in the weeks and months ahead.”

On Thursday, Anthropic confirmed that it had officially been designated a supply chain risk, an extraordinary move that has historically been reserved for foreign adversaries. It will require require defense vendors and contractors to certify that they don’t use Anthropic’s models in their work with the Pentagon.

President Donald Trump also shared a post on social media last month directing federal agencies to “immediately cease” all use of Anthropic’s technology.

“WE will decide the fate of our Country — NOT some out-of-control, Radical Left AI company run by people who have no idea what the real World is all about,” Trump wrote.

Anthropic’s models have been used to support the U.S.’ military operation in Iran, even after the company was blacklisted, as CNBC previously reported.

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Anthropic signed a $200 million contract with the Department of Defense in July, and it was the first AI lab to deploy its technology across the agency’s classified networks. The company had been renegotiating the going forward terms of its contract, and talks hit a snag because the two organizations disagreed over how its models could be used.

The DOD wanted Anthropic to grant the agency unfettered access to its AI models across all lawful purposes, while Anthropic wanted assurance that its models would not be used for fully autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance.

“Seeking judicial review does not change our longstanding commitment to harnessing AI to protect our national security, but this is a necessary step to protect our business, our customers, and our partners,” an Anthropic spokesperson told CNBC on Monday. “We will continue to pursue every path toward resolution, including dialogue with the government.”

The DOD did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request to comment.

More than a dozen federal agencies, including the DOD, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Department of State and the General Services Administration, are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

“The consequences of this case are enormous,” the complaint says. “Defendants are seeking to destroy the economic value created by one of the world’s fastest-growing private companies, which is a leader in responsibly developing an emergent technology of vital significance to our Nation.”

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