Trump blacklisting of "woke" Anthropic deemed illegal by federal judge

Anthropic refused to support lethal autonomous warfare and mass surveillance.

The short version

• The Trump administration’s blacklisting of Anthropic was illegal, a federal judge ruled in an order vacating government directives against the use of the firm’s AI technology.
• The government illegally retaliated against Anthropic by designating it a supply-chain risk to national security, said yesterday’s ruling by Judge Rita Lin in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.
• The maker of Claude AI technology was barred by the US after it refused to drop restrictions on the use of its products for lethal autonomous warfare and mass surveillance of Americans, the ruling said.

What happened

“The undisputed record shows that the challenged actions constituted unlawful retaliation in violation of the First Amendment,” Lin wrote in an order that granted key portions of Anthropic’s motion for summary judgment. “The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics,” she added.

Why it matters

But the DC Circuit appeals court went on to hold oral arguments and is still reviewing the case while the sides continue to submit briefs.

Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Ars Technica via the links above and below.