Pete Hegseth's Pentagon unlawfully acted against Anthropic, judge rules

WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled on Thursday the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it labeled the artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic a security risk and barred the company from working with the US government, calling the move "illegal and baseless".The company argued in the lawsuit that Defense Secretary Pete Hegeth overstepped his authority with the new designation. It followed Anthropic's refusal to allow the military to use its AI models for things that included surveillance or autonomous weapons.US District Court Judge Rita Lin in the Northern District of California said that the government had unlawfully retaliated against Anthropic “for constitutionally protected expressive activities” after the AI company spoke out about how its technology should be used.“The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics,” she wrote in her 59-page ruling.Anthropic welcomed the ruling. Anthropic is focused on "working productively with the government to harness AI for our national security so all Americans benefit from this technology," a spokesperson told the BBC.Judge Lin said in the court filing that the Def