A New Chapter in War Technology: Pentagon Strikes AI Deal with OpenAI
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that the company has signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) for the use of its artificial intelligence tools. Under the deal, OpenAI models will be deployed within the Pentagon’s classified systems. The development comes on the heels of the U.S. administration’s decision to ban rival AI company Anthropic from use across federal agencies.
The ban on Anthropic was triggered by the company’s refusal to concede to the Pentagon’s demands regarding the use of AI in autonomous weapons systems and the mass surveillance of U.S. citizens. The administration classified Anthropic as a “supply chain risk” — a designation typically reserved for companies with direct ties to foreign adversaries — requiring all military contractors to certify that their work has no contact whatsoever with Anthropic products. The company has announced it will mount a legal challenge to the classification.
Altman stated that the agreement includes ethical guardrails prohibiting the use of AI for mass domestic surveillance and requiring that human responsibility be retained in decisions involving lethal force. He also announced that OpenAI will deploy engineers to the Pentagon to ensure the systems operate in accordance with these principles. Notably, however, the extent to which Altman’s disclosed terms differ from what Anthropic had originally sought remains unclear. The situation puts the role of artificial intelligence in the defense sector back under the spotlight.