# Microsoft’s Anthropic Brief Is About More Than AI — It’s About Democracy.

1 Opinion March 31, 2026By Michael Posner

Forbes ![Michael Posner](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/con_046658.jpg?itok=t24nqftK)When a federal judge in California issued a preliminary injunction last Thursday barring Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon from designating Anthropic as a threat to U.S. national security, Microsoft was among those applauding. The ruling vindicated not just Anthropic but the broader argument Microsoft and others had made in friend-of-the-court briefs: that the government cannot brand a company a national security threat simply for raising concerns about mass surveillance and autonomous weapons.

Simply by raising these concerns, Anthropic failed the administration’s binary test for businesses: either you demonstrate strict loyalty to the president or you will pay the price.

Miffed that Anthropic sought greater clarity, President Donald Trump reacted angrily, posting on social media that, “The United States of America will never allow a radical left, woke company to dictate how our great military fights and wins wars.” He castigated Anthropic, alleging that for “their selfishness is putting American lives at risk, our troops in danger, and our national security in jeopardy.”

Read the full [*Forbes* article](https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelposner/2026/03/31/microsofts-anthropic-brief-is-about-more-than-aiits-about-democratic-norms/).
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*Michael Posner is the Jerome Kohlberg Professor of Ethics and Finance, Professor of Business and Society and Director of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights.*

## More from Michael Posner

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