In the clash between AI computing power and national security, a rare "hard confrontation" is unfolding in a U.S. courtroom. Recently, regarding the Biden administration's previous move to place the AI unicorn Anthropic on a "supply chain risk" blacklist, federal judge Rita Lin publicly questioned at the hearing: this action by the government seems not purely for national security reasons, but more like a political retaliation against "disobedient" companies.

The Blacklist Storm Caused by Refusing to Open a "Backdoor"

The trigger of this conflict came from a public refusal by Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic. Previously, the U.S. Department of Defense had requested unrestricted access to Anthropic's AI models for "any legal use."

Amodei expressed strong concerns, believing that such unregulated access could lead to AI being misused for monitoring citizens or being deployed in fully autonomous weapon systems without proper security verification. This "uncooperative" attitude later triggered a strong backlash: the Pentagon quickly placed it on the blacklist. Judge Lin pointed out that this label, originally used to target "foreign hostile forces," was now being applied for the first time to a top American AI company, and the motives were highly suspicious.

"Collective Punishment" Effect: From Defense Security to the National Endowment for the Arts

At the hearing, the judge stated that the Pentagon could have simply stopped purchasing Claude, but the current approach clearly aims to "completely weaken" the company. The current executive order is so broad as to be baffling, potentially even preventing non-sensitive institutions like the National Endowment for the Arts from using Claude to design websites.

For Anthropic, this is not just a blow to reputation, but also a financial hit. The company states in its lawsuit that this designation is threatening millions of dollars in potential revenue in the short term, as many defense contractors are hesitant to continue using its products due to policy uncertainty.

Industry Insight: Silicon Valley Giants Feel the Cold Wind