U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speak to reporters aboard Air Force One flight from Dover, Delaware, to Miami, Florida, March 7, 2026.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Anthropic filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday seeking to revoke the Pentagon’s blacklisting of artificial intelligence companies as a “supply chain risk.”
The company said in a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that these actions are “unprecedented and illegal” and have “caused irreparable harm to Anthropic.”
“Anthropic’s contracts with the federal government have already been terminated. Current and future contracts with private parties are also in question, putting hundreds of millions of dollars at risk in the short term,” the filing states. “In addition to these immediate economic harms, Anthropic’s reputation and core First Amendment freedoms are under attack. Without judicial relief, these harms will only worsen in the coming weeks and months.”
The lawsuit is the latest episode in a dramatic two-week battle between Anthropic and the Trump administration over how the company’s AI models are used on the battlefield and elsewhere. Before the conflict between the two sides escalated into public view late last month, Anthropic served as an early partner for a number of U.S. government agencies as the government sought to quickly upgrade its systems and capabilities with cutting-edge AI technology.
On Thursday, Anthropic confirmed it had been formally designated as a supply chain risk, an unusual measure that has historically been reserved for foreign adversaries. The move would require defense vendors and contractors to certify that they are not using Anthropic’s model, known as Claude, in their work with the Department of Defense.
President Donald Trump also shared a post on social media last month instructing federal agencies to “immediately cease” all use of Anthropic’s technology.
“We are the ones who decide the fate of our country, not an out-of-control radical left-wing AI company run by people who have no idea what the real world is,” Trump wrote.
Anthropic asked the court to revoke the supply chain risk designation and grant a stay on the company’s lawsuit as the case unfolds.
The company has separately filed a formal review of the Department of Defense’s decision with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.
Anthropic won a $200 million contract with the Department of Defense in July, making it the first AI lab to deploy the technology across the department’s sensitive networks. The company had been renegotiating future contract terms, but negotiations stalled due to conflicting opinions between the two organizations over how the model should be used.
The Pentagon wanted Anthropic to have unfettered access to its AI models for all lawful purposes, but Anthropic wanted assurances that its models would not be used for fully autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance.
As CNBC previously reported, Anthropic’s models are still being used to support US military operations in Iran even after the company was blacklisted.
“While seeking judicial review does not change our long-standing commitment to leveraging AI to protect national security, it is a necessary step to protect our business, customers, and partners,” an Anthropic spokesperson told CNBC on Monday. “We will continue to pursue all avenues for a resolution, including dialogue with the government.”
A Pentagon spokeswoman said the agency does not comment on litigation.
The lawsuit names more than a dozen federal agencies as defendants, including the Department of Defense, the U.S. Treasury, the U.S. State Department, and the General Services Administration.
“The impact of this incident is immeasurable,” the complaint states. “Defendants seek to destroy the economic value created by one of the world’s fastest-growing private companies, a leader in responsibly developing emerging technologies that are critical to our nation.”
WATCH: Why the Pentagon’s human blacklist is so unprecedented
