Judge says Anthropic ban still lacks evidence

A federal judge said the Pentagon still had not produced evidence that Anthropic could alter a delivered model or flip a wartime “kill switch,” nearly five months after the agency labeled the company a supply-chain risk and banned its technology. TechCrunch’s report on the July 30 hearing says Judge Rita Lin called the government’s retaliation theory “really troubling” while considering whether to make her temporary block permanent. Our original blacklist analysis argued the designation was procedurally irregular and unsupported by a technical threat; today’s hearing strengthens that call, but it does not settle it because Lin has not issued a final ruling.