Anthropic ↔ GDS

1.0.0-rc.1 · Evidence cutoff 12 September 2026

Directly documented interface

Formal cooperation

Named parties enter a defined memorandum or research agreement; implementation separately documented.

undirected. undirected

Displayed claim → analysis (if present) → coded attributes → interface / instrument → atomic evidence → source version

Instrument and timeline

Instrument: Formal cooperation
Bindingness: Unknown; not inferred from announcement
Announced: 2026-01-27
Observed by: 2026-01-27 · day
Effective period: Unknown → Unknown
Event: Announced
Status at cutoff: unresolved/unknown
Last confirmation: 2026-01-27

Independent maintenance is an intended project outcome; it limits any claim of permanent supplier dependence.

Pilot development does not establish general public deployment or achieved independent maintenance.

Status investigation

Checked 2026-09-12; assessed as of 2026-09-12. Last confirmation does not establish uninterrupted continuity.

amendments: unknown
expiry: unknown
termination: investigated within listed sources
restrictions: investigated within listed sources
succession: see succession.json
conflicts: Independent maintenance is an intended project outcome; it limits any claim of permanent supplier dependence.

Search queries

"anthropic" "gds" cooperation 2026 amendment termination expiry status before:2026-09-13

Analytical assessment

No reviewed analytical conclusion is attached. This does not establish independence or absence of an institutional constraint.

Coded attributes

technical-control: shared-constrained

Practical ability to alter the model, its availability, or safeguards in the specified deployment. Contract clauses alone are insufficient.

Actor × exact model/deployment × period. Anthropic provision and replacement of Claude models for DoW, contrasted with deployed operational control; 2025–August 2026; assessed 2026-08-27.

Anthropic provides model artifacts and responds to feedback; DoW and cloud providers independently gate operational deployment. Existing deployed models are outside Anthropic technical alteration or shutdown. Consequential functions are divided across institutions, satisfying shared/constrained control without attributing a real-time veto.

Supporting evidence: court-model-provision court-update-gate . Counterevidence: contractual-control court-static-deployment

Coding applies only to stated context and date, not a permanent institutional rank.

Published rubric anchors

little-control: No demonstrated practical control over the specified consequential operation, with affirmative contrary evidence.
shared-constrained: Consequential controls divided among actor, host, customer or enforceable technical constraints.
substantial: Actor demonstrably retains major development, update or access controls in this environment.
dominant-lifecycle: Actor demonstrably controls development, deployment, updates and access across the specified lifecycle without a consequential independent controller.

Unresolved when necessary evidence is missing or adjacent anchors cannot be distinguished. No numeric conversion. Absence requires affirmative remit or operational evidence, not missing sources.

Atomic evidence and exact sources

The project aims to equip GDS to maintain the assistant independently.

Source: GOV.UK assistant development partnership · Anthropic
Version: 2026-01-27; retrieved 2026-09-12
Exact locator: Government engineering and maintenance description
Limit: Intended capability, not demonstrated independence; model-service substitution remains unestablished.

Retrieved bytes SHA-256: 4323ab90776d87aca6bde10789fcf738265ef8595e903e8508aa32b47987dc92

Anthropic could not technologically enforce contractual usage restrictions and lacked direct visibility into DoW use.

Source: Anthropic v DoW: summary judgment, document 250 · US District Court, Northern District of California
Version: 2026-08-27; retrieved 2026-09-12
Exact locator: Printed page 6
Limit: Specific deployed environment; does not imply no control over future development, contracts or provision.

Byte capture unavailable. HTTP Error 403: Forbidden Published document identity and locator remain recorded.

Anthropic announced that its engineers would work alongside GDS civil servants and developers on a GOV.UK assistant.

Source: GOV.UK assistant development partnership · Anthropic
Version: 2026-01-27; retrieved 2026-09-12
Exact locator: AI for UK government services that puts safety first, paragraph beginning “A central goal”
Limit: Pilot development does not establish general public deployment or achieved independent maintenance.

Retrieved bytes SHA-256: 4323ab90776d87aca6bde10789fcf738265ef8595e903e8508aa32b47987dc92

The court describes deployed DoW Claude models as static and beyond Anthropic technological access, alteration or shutdown.

Source: Anthropic v DoW: summary judgment, document 250 · US District Court, Northern District of California
Version: 2026-08-27; retrieved 2026-09-12
Exact locator: Printed page 17, Section II.F, first paragraph
Limit: Applies to deployed models described in this litigation, not future model provision or hosted consumer services.

Byte capture unavailable. HTTP Error 403: Forbidden Published document identity and locator remain recorded.

The court records that replacement Claude models undergo third-party cloud-provider and DoW security testing and evaluation before operational approval.

Source: Anthropic v DoW: summary judgment, document 250 · US District Court, Northern District of California
Version: 2026-08-27; retrieved 2026-09-12
Exact locator: Printed page 17, Section II.F, first paragraph
Limit: Identifies a deployment approval gate, not complete interpretability, universal evaluation sufficiency or provider substitutability.

Byte capture unavailable. HTTP Error 403: Forbidden Published document identity and locator remain recorded.

The court records Anthropic providing models to DoW or a primary defense contractor and responding to DoW evaluation feedback and requests.

Source: Anthropic v DoW: summary judgment, document 250 · US District Court, Northern District of California
Version: 2026-08-27; retrieved 2026-09-12
Exact locator: Printed page 17, Section II.F, first paragraph
Limit: Provision is distinct from control over deployed inference; future supply terms and update alternatives are unspecified.

Byte capture unavailable. HTTP Error 403: Forbidden Published document identity and locator remain recorded.

Supporting and conflicting evidence

Interface support: e-anthropic-gds-pilot. Counterevidence: gds-maintenance-intent

Substantive review

evidence/gds-maintenance-intent: approved · agent reviewer codex-research-checker · 2026-09-12

The same announcement presents GDS independent maintenance as a project objective. This counters permanent-dependence inference but does not establish achieved substitution. Checked locator: Government engineering and maintenance description. Source version: 2026-01-27.