Google and OpenAI Staff Filed Legal Briefing Supporting Anthropic

Anthropic’s legal battle against the federal government has received support in the form of an amicus curiae brief from rival players in the AI ​​game.

early today Anthropic has filed several lawsuits challenging the federal government’s legal authority to call the AI ​​company a “supply chain risk to national security” and prevent large firms from working with it.

Amicus The briefing was then presented There are 37 signatories – technically called friend because this is an amicus brief, not a letter, defined as “engineers, researchers, scientists, and other professionals” at Google and OpenAI. Perhaps most notable among those named by Wired are Jeff Dean, chief scientist at all of Google, and is a prolific funder of other AI companies in his spare time.

In high-profile cases, courts are often filled with amicus curiae (Latin for “friend of the court”) briefs, which can be filed by essentially anyone in an attempt to change the outcome of the trial. Amicus brief they have a reputation for being boring to readand an interesting brief—say, one written by the plaintiff’s business competitors in support of the plaintiff—can have a big impact.

Briefly, the argument breaks down into three main points, although the second two are closely related: Anthropic, amici argue, was right to keep its guns above the now-famous “red lines” — concerns about mass surveillance and fully autonomous lethal weapons — that have now so incensed the federal government that it has taken action. The first point is that what the government is doing, according to the amici, constitutes an “improper and arbitrary use of power” that has “serious consequences for our industry.”

Other friends include Grant Birkinbine, security engineer at OpenAI, Sanjeev Dhanda, software engineer at Google, Leo Gao, technical staff member at OpenAI, Kathy Korevec, lead engineer at OpenAI, product director at Google Labs, and Ian McKenzie, research engineer at Google.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman criticized the government’s Anthropic decision from the beginning of these events. writes in X on February 28“To put it very plainly: I think it’s a very bad decision by the (War Department), and I hope they reverse it. If we get hot for vehemently criticizing it, so be it.” There is Altman he admittedHowever, his company’s contract with the Pentagon coincided with an explosive rift between Anthropic and the Pentagon that “seemed opportunistic and sloppy.”