Dueling Court Rulings Leave Pentagon’s Access to Claude AI in Limbo

A US appeals court has contradicted a lower court decision from March, throwing Anthropic’s Claude AI model into legal uncertainty for military use. The appeals ruling conflicts directly with the earlier decision, leaving the Pentagon unable to clearly determine whether—or how—it can deploy Claude in defense operations.

Anthropic, the AI company behind Claude, now faces competing legal interpretations that create what regulators are calling a \”supply-chain risk.\” The company hasn’t clarified its position on either ruling, and the conflicting decisions have created a standstill. The military has avoided making moves on Claude until the legal picture becomes clearer.

The appeals court’s position contradicts the March lower court decision that appeared to open a pathway for Pentagon access. Now there’s no settled answer. The Pentagon can’t move forward without clarity, and Anthropic can’t operate under contradictory rules. Someone will likely need to escalate this further to get a final answer.