NEW YORK (AP) — San Francisco 49ers All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey, Minnesota Vikings running back Aaron Jones Sr. and Dallas Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson are the finalists for the 15th annual Salute to Service Award.
The award is given to a person who displays “exceptional efforts” to honor and support members of the military community. The winner will be recognized at NFL Honors on Feb. 5 during Super Bowl week.
The finalists were announced Thursday by the NFL and USAA.
Niners tight end George Kittle, the 2024 Salute to Service Award recipient, will be among the judges.
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San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) runs the ball during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)
Anthropic is suing the Trump administration, asking federal courts to reverse the Pentagon’s decision designating the artificial intelligence company a “ supply chain risk ” over its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its technology.
Anthropic filed two separate lawsuits Monday, one in California federal court and another in the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., each challenging different aspects of the Pentagon’s actions against the company.
The Pentagon last week formally designated the San Francisco tech company a supply chain risk after an unusually public dispute over how its AI chatbot Claude could be used in warfare.
“These actions are unprecedented and unlawful," Anthropic's lawsuit says. "The Constitution does not allow the government to wield its enormous power to punish a company for its protected speech. No federal statute authorizes the actions taken here. Anthropic turns to the judiciary as a last resort to vindicate its rights and halt the Executive’s unlawful campaign of retaliation.”
The Defense Department declined to comment Monday.
Anthropic said it sought to restrict its technology from being used for two high-level usages: mass surveillance of Americans and fully autonomous weapons. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials insisted the company must accept “all lawful uses” of Claude and threatened punishment if the company did not comply.
Designating the company a supply chain risk cuts off Anthropic defense work using an authority that was designed to prevent foreign adversaries from harming national security systems. It was the first time the federal government is known to have used the designation against a U.S. company.
President Donald Trump also said he would order federal agencies to stop using Claude, though he gave the Pentagon six months to phase out a product that’s deeply embedded in classified military systems, including those used in the Iran war.
Even as it fights the Pentagon’s actions, Anthropic has sought to convince businesses and other government agencies that the Trump administration’s penalty is a narrow one that only affects military contractors when they are using Claude in work for the Department of Defense.
Making that distinction clear is crucial for the privately held Anthropic because most of its projected $14 billion in revenue this year comes from businesses and government agencies that are using Claude for computer coding and other tasks. More than 500 customers are paying Anthropic at least $1 million annually for Claude, according to investment that had valued the company at $380 billion.
FILE- Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, and Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael, right, arrive to look at a display of multi-domain autonomous systems in the Pentagon courtyard, Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
FILE - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stands outside the Pentagon during a welcome ceremony for the Japanese defense minister at the Pentagon in Washington, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf, File)
Pages from the Anthropic website and the company's logos are displayed on a computer screen in New York on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison)
