A US federal appeals court in Washington ruled 2 to 1 on 25 September that the Pentagon may keep its designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk, AP reports. The ruling lets the department keep removing Anthropic’s Claude models from its systems and bar their use in defence work, including by contractors. It does not bar Anthropic from the wider federal government.
The designation followed a dispute in February 2026, when Anthropic would not drop limits on uses of its products that it said could include mass surveillance or autonomous armed drones. A separate federal judge in California had earlier ruled against the Pentagon in a related matter.
Anthropic said it respectfully disagrees and is considering further review, and a Pentagon spokesman said the ruling validates the department’s position. The case is the most prominent legal test so far of whether an AI company can set limits on military use of its models and still supply the Pentagon.