Anthropic says it will challenge the Pentagon in court over the "supply chain risk" label on its artificial intelligence technology.

"Earlier today, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth shared on X that he is directing the Department of War to designate Anthropic a supply chain risk," Anthropic said in a statement.

"This action follows months of negotiations that reached an impasse over two exceptions we requested to the lawful use of our AI model, Claude: the mass domestic surveillance of Americans and fully autonomous weapons," it said.

"We have not yet received direct communication from the Department of War or the White House on the status of our negotiations," the statement continued.

"We have tried in good faith to reach an agreement with the Department of War, making clear that we support all lawful uses of AI for national security aside from the two narrow exceptions above. To the best of our knowledge, these exceptions have not affected a single government mission to date."

The statement went on to say the "supply chain risk" designation "would be an unprecedented action—one historically reserved for US adversaries, never before publicly applied to an American company."

"We believe this designation would both be legally unsound and set a dangerous precedent for any American company that negotiates with the government," it continued. 

"No amount of intimidation or punishment from the Department of War will change our position on mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. We will challenge any supply chain risk designation in court."