Judge halts Trump administration's ban on Anthropic; U.S. Department of Justice files an appeal

Golden Finance reports that on April 2, the Trump administration will appeal a ruling by a federal judge that blocked its ban on the government’s use of Anthropic technology. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a notice in court on Thursday, saying it will appeal last month’s decision by Judge Rita F. Lin of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. The judge had previously paused the government’s plan to cut ties with Anthropic so that the status quo could be maintained while the legal dispute continued, but she put the ruling on hold for a week, giving the government an opportunity to appeal. Anthropic filed a lawsuit challenging the Department of Defense’s decision claiming that its technology poses a threat to the U.S. supply chain. In a ruling on March 26, the judge sided with Anthropic, finding that the government’s reasons for issuing the ban on the grounds of national security were questionable. The judge said the move was more like a “punishment” for Anthropic because the company sought assurances that its technology would not be used to surveil Americans or for autonomous weapon deployments. (Golden Ten)