More than thirty employees from OpenAI and Google DeepMind have filed a statement in support of Anthropic’s lawsuit against the U.S. Defense Department. This action follows the Pentagon’s decision to label the AI company a supply-chain risk. According to court filings, the employees argue the government’s designation was an improper and arbitrary use of power with serious ramifications for the industry. The statement’s signatories include Google DeepMind chief scientist Jeff Dean.
The Pentagon applied the label, typically reserved for foreign adversaries, late last week. This came after Anthropic refused to allow the Department of Defense to use its technology for mass surveillance of Americans or for autonomously firing weapons. The DOD had contended it should be able to use AI for any lawful purpose without constraints from a private contractor.
The amicus brief appeared on the court docket just hours after Anthropic filed two lawsuits against the DOD and other federal agencies. In their filing, the employees from Google and OpenAI state that if the Pentagon was dissatisfied with its contract terms with Anthropic, it could have simply canceled the agreement and purchased services from another leading AI company.
In fact, the DOD signed a deal with OpenAI immediately after designating Anthropic a supply-chain risk, a move protested by many OpenAI employees. The brief warns that punishing a leading U.S. AI company will have consequences for the nation’s industrial and scientific competitiveness in artificial intelligence. It further states this action will chill open discussion about the risks and benefits of current AI systems.
The filing affirms that Anthropic’s stated ethical boundaries are legitimate concerns requiring strong safeguards. It argues that without public law to govern AI use, the contractual and technical restrictions imposed by developers are a critical protection against catastrophic misuse.
Many of the employees who signed this statement also signed recent open letters urging the DOD to withdraw the supply-chain risk label. Those letters called on the leaders of their own companies to support Anthropic and refuse any unilateral use of their AI systems by the military.