Yesterday, Judge Rita F. Lin in the Northern District of California heard arguments related to issuing a preliminary injunction against the government’s designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk. Following the hearing, Jennifer Huddleston, senior fellow in technology policy at the Cato Institute, issued the statement below:

While the underlying debate about the potential abuse of AI technology for domestic surveillance and autonomous lethal weapons merits further discussion, yesterday’s hearing illustrates that the actions taken by the Pentagon raise significant principal and policy concerns, even separate from those issues, and are far more than a mere procurement dispute. What is clear from the hearing is that the court is skeptical of the government’s defenses and recognizes the severity of the government action, labeling one of America’s leading AI companies a supply chain risk.

A preliminary injunction could halt the more extreme effects of the supply chain risk designation, but would not force the Pentagon to resume using Anthropic. A ruling on the preliminary injunction is expected in the next few days.

To speak with Huddleston further on yesterday’s hearing, contact Cato PR at pr@​cato.​org.