Court strikes down Pentagon's Anthropic AI ban

A federal court has overturned the U.S. Defense Department's ban on Anthropic's AI models, with Judge Rita Lin ruling the move was illegal and baseless. The dispute began when the Pentagon asked Anthropic to remove terms of use clauses prohibiting mass surveillance of Americans and autonomous weapons development. The court dismissed both of the Pentagon's core arguments, including unsubstantiated claims of backdoor access and retaliation against Anthropic for publicly criticizing administration AI policies. A second ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is still needed before the ban is fully lifted.