OpenAI struck a deal with the Pentagon, hours after rival Anthropic was blacklisted by Donald Trump.
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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced at X that his company has reached an agreement with the US Department of Defense to use its models “on a secret network.”
The post came shortly after President Donald Trump said the government would not work with rival artificial intelligence company Anthropic.
As Sam Altman wrote, Open AI has agreed terms of cooperation with the Department of Defense.
“Tonight we reached an agreement with the War Department to deploy our models on their classified network,” Altman wrote in a post on X. “The War Department has demonstrated a deep respect for security and a willingness to work together to achieve the best possible results.”
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OpenAI rival on Trump's blacklist Sam Altman
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Altman's post ends a dramatic week for the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, which has found itself at the center of a political debate about the feasibility of using its models. Earlier in the day, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared Anthropic a “threat” to the supply chain and national security after weeks of tense negotiations. This label is usually reserved for foreign opponents.
President Trump also ordered all U.S. federal agencies to “immediately cease” their use of Anthropic's technology.
Anthropic was the first company to deploy its models on a secret Department of Defense (DoD) network and attempted to negotiate ongoing contract terms with the agency before talks ended in failure.
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Artificial Intelligence in the US Army. This is “Red Lines”
The company demanded assurances that its models would not be used to build fully autonomous weapons or for mass surveillance of Americans, while the Department of Defense expected Anthropic to agree to the military's use of the models in all lawful cases.
In Thursday's memo, Altman informed employees that OpenAI shares the same “red lines” as Anthropic. In Friday's post, he said the Department of Defense (DoD) had accepted these restrictions.
“Two of our most important security principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including in the case of autonomous weapons systems,” Altman wrote. The Department of Defense (DoW) agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we have incorporated them into our contract.
It's not entirely clear why the Department of Defense agreed to deploy OpenAI's models rather than Anthropic's, although government officials have been criticizing Anthropic for months for allegedly being overly concerned about AI security.
Altman said OpenAI will develop “technical safeguards to ensure its models function properly” and that the company will send staff to “help operate our models and ensure their security.”
Anthropic said in a statement Friday that it was “deeply saddened” by the Pentagon's decision to designate it as a supply chain threat. She announced that she intended to challenge this determination in court.
Source: CNBC
