WASHINGTON (AP) — A panel of appellate judges appeared to be divided on Tuesday over a legal dispute between the Pentagon and technology company Anthropic, which claims Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unlawfully and falsely branded it as a national security risk for raising ethical and safety concerns about AI usage in war.Three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit didn’t indicate how soon they would rule on Anthropic’s appeal, but some of their questions and remarks hinted at how they might decide the case.Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson said she sees no evidence to support the Pentagon’s determination that Anthropic poses a supply-chain risk to national security.“To me, this is just a spectacular overreach by the (Defense) Department,” said Henderson, who was nominated by Republican President George H. W. Bush.
Judge Neomi Rao, who was nominated by Republican President Donald Trump, questioned what basis the court could have for second-guessing Hegseth’s judgment. The Pentagon’s dispute with Anthropic centers on how AI technology can be used in fully autonomous weapons and potential surveillance of Americans.
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“I take the secretary to be making more general points than the ones that you’ve identified,” Rao told Anthropic attorney Kelly Dunbar. “It’s about risk, and they say, ‘Well, based on what we know, we can’t trust that the (AI) model may not have something embedded within it that is going to create a problem for military capabilities.”
