The Download

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TL;DR: After almost six months, a California federal court has overturned the government’s blacklisting of Anthropic, calling the move “illegal and baseless.” But, we regret to inform you the Pentagon vs. Anthropic saga still isn’t quite over.

What happened: The court ruled yesterday that the Pentagon designating Anthropic a “supply chain risk” was unlawful. And not just that: It found that the government had violated Anthropic’s First Amendment rights.

“The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics,” Judge Rita Lin wrote in her 59-page ruling. (The decision also says the government ran afoul of the Fifth Amendment right to due process, as Anthropic didn’t get to dispute its blacklisting before it went into effect.)

What started all this, if you’ll recall, was Anthropic’s unwillingness to give the Pentagon free rein on “any lawful use” of its AI. The Pentagon then blacklisted it in early March—banning government agencies (and even its contractors and suppliers) from using Anthropic’s products. The lab sued the government, claiming this freeze-out could cost it billions of dollars in lost business.

Why the court didn’t buy the risk argument: The court concluded that the government didn’t really think Anthropic was a danger. The biggest reason: Right before the blacklisting, the Pentagon was pursuing a contract with Anthropic. And despite accusing the firm of being a national security risk, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth even suggested invoking the Defense Production Act (which would mark Anthropic as essential to national security) to get it to comply.

Then there was the government’s public hostility toward Anthropic, which focused on its defiance and “betrayal,” not on its models’ potential risks. On the day the blacklisting was announced, President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that the US would “NEVER ALLOW A RADICAL LEFT, WOKE COMPANY TO DICTATE HOW OUR GREAT MILITARY FIGHTS AND WINS WARS!” Judge Lin referenced the post in her ruling, among others.

Not a total win: The judge ruled in favor of most of Anthropic’s arguments, but ruled completely against the AI lab on one claim: that Trump didn’t have the authority to order a Claude ban for all federal agencies. (Anthropic simply didn’t make a strong enough case for it, the decision notes.)

What comes next: A separate challenge over the supply chain risk label is still ongoing in DC, but federal agencies must revoke orders enforcing the ban. There’s no statement yet from the government—though it could be prepping an appeal. —WK

Also in AI…

• Basically every tech company we can think of signed a letter yesterday calling for “collective” prep against AI-enabled cyberattacks.
• This headline: “AI industry says Trump plans to tax chips in the ‘single dumbest way imaginable.’”

      

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My new financial advisor doesn’t sugarcoat anything (or take a salary)

For the past few weeks, I’ve been putting ChatGPT’s finances tool through its paces. That meant connecting every financial institution I could to the chatbot through Plaid (though one of my credit cards wasn’t available). Admittedly, the idea of giving AI access to my bank statements and transactions made me very uncomfortable. (It might be fine now, but who is to say my info couldn’t get leaked in the future or somehow show up in search results?) Unfortunately for me, it’s actually been very useful—so I’ll just have to deal with that cognitive dissonance every day.

To get started, I asked ChatGPT to do a full analysis of my finances. That way I’d be able to ask pointed questions, get quick status checks, and then set up a weekly report based on my goals.

Here’s the prompt I used to kick things off:

Analyze my connected finances and work out my realistic monthly baseline by reviewing my transactions/debt balances/APRs/minimums. Ask me about my goals, anything that’s unclear, or things you need to know in order to give me an accurate overview.

It then looked through the past six months of transactions, recurring charges, income deposits, and debt information and asked 25 follow-up questions before giving me its report. (While it was able to pull the APRs for some accounts, it couldn’t for others—so I had to give it some info manually, including for the card I couldn’t connect to.)

The overview itself was fascinating, especially seeing all my transactions broken down into categories each month (I really do go all out in the summer). From there, I asked it for the following:

1. Identify the easiest spending reductions that would cause the least pain.
2. Give me a 10-minute money check-in every week dashboard-style. Include the week’s spending, how I’m pacing toward my goals, any upcoming bills, how much is safe to spend until the next paycheck, and any decisions I need to make. (This lands in my inbox on Saturday mornings.)

I’ve also asked it whether I can afford impulse purchases—like a $300 limited-edition leatherbound version of a book I already own. Unlike my well-meaning friends, ChatGPT (surprisingly) doesn’t immediately tell me, “Heck yeah, you deserve this!” (Let’s be real, I’m only asking them to validate the decision I’ve already made.) Instead, it checks my accounts and gives me a “yes,” “yes, but,” or “no” verdict. Unfortunately, it happened to be the latter. I guess I’ll just have to hope it doesn’t sell out. —SM

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The Zeitbyte

Handwritten signs go viral

Screenshot via @zenchai_uk/Instagram

Few things are trendier right now than taking pains to prove you’re not using AI. That might include deliberately sprinkling typos into your writing—or your local café or restaurant making comically low-effort, handwritten signs that promise not to use those AI-generated flyers that are all the rage right now.

That’s exactly what small-business owners are doing, with some posting pictures of themselves online holding pen-and-paper signs. One photo shows a man giving a thumbs-up and holding up a piece of paper that reads, “We will not be using any AI posters to promote ourselves.”

The viral trend is a low-tech clapback to the scourge of eerily homogeneous AI posters that are everywhere and share the same maximalist, eye-searing design. (There are apparently even store signs advertising items that aren’t actually on the menu.) There’s also a response to the response that closes the loop: people mocking the “no ChatGPT graphic design here” pledge by spoofing them with very obvious AI images. —WK

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