Tech Workers Back Anthropic in Legal Fight Over Pentagon's 'Risk' Label

More than thirty employees from OpenAI and Google's DeepMind unit have formally sided with Anthropic in its lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense. The move comes days after the Pentagon designated the AI company a "supply-chain risk," a classification typically applied to foreign adversaries.

The designation followed Anthropic's refusal to allow the Defense Department to use its technology for domestic mass surveillance programs or to power autonomous weapons systems. The DOD contended its contracts should allow for any "lawful" use without restrictions set by a private firm.

In a legal brief filed Monday, the group of industry scientists and engineers, which includes Google DeepMind chief scientist Jeff Dean, called the government's action "improper and arbitrary." They argued the Pentagon could have simply ended its contract with Anthropic and sought another vendor if terms were unsatisfactory. Instead, the DOD signed a new agreement with OpenAI immediately after labeling Anthropic a risk - a decision that drew internal protest from some OpenAI staff.

The supporting statement warns that penalizing a leading U.S. AI company will damage national competitiveness and stifle necessary debate about the technology's risks. It asserts that, in the absence of comprehensive public law, the ethical boundaries set by AI developers themselves serve as a vital protection against misuse.

The brief was filed shortly after Anthropic initiated two lawsuits against the DOD and other federal agencies. Many of the same signatories have recently urged their own company leaders to support Anthropic and reject unilateral military use of their AI systems.

Source: TechCrunch