OpenAI announced it has signed a contract with the Department of Defense to supply AI to classified US military networks, hours after President Donald Trump ordered the government to suspend the use of the services of one of the company’s main competitors.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced the move Friday night. This comes after an agreement with rival AI company Anthropic, which runs the Claude System, fell apart over Anthropic’s demand for guarantees that its technology would not be used in autonomous weapons systems that could kill people without mass surveillance or human intervention.
Announcing the deal, Altman claimed that OpenAI’s agreement with the government includes guarantees that OpenAI will not be used for such purposes.
“Two of our most important security principles are the prohibition of domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including autonomous weapons systems,” Altman wrote in X. He added that the Department of Defense “agrees with these principles and has translated them into law and policy, and we have incorporated them into the agreement.”
Altman also said he wants the Pentagon to “offer similar terms to all AI companies” as a way to “escalate away from legal and government action and move toward reasonable agreements.”
If OpenAI’s contract prohibits its systems from being used for unethical purposes, it would appear that the company has succeeded in obtaining guarantees that Anthropic did not. Mr. Altman announced the agreement with the administration shortly after the president announced that he would direct all federal agencies to “immediately cease” the use of human technology.
The Pentagon was demanding that humanity relax its ethical guidelines regarding AI systems or face severe consequences.
“The left-wing lunatics at Anthropic made a disastrous mistake in trying to strengthen the people,” President Trump said on his Truth Social platform. [Pentagon]And it forces you to follow the Terms of Service instead of the Constitution. ”
It remains to be seen how OpenAI staff will react to the government’s agreement. In its fight against the Trump administration, Anthropic has garnered support from its fiercest rivals. Approximately 500 OpenAI and Google employees signed an open letter saying, “We will not be divided.”
“The Department of Defense is negotiating with Google and Open AI to agree to what Anthropic has rejected,” the letter said. “They’re trying to break up each company because they’re afraid the other will give in.”
Altman sought to reassure OpenAI employees in a memo sent Friday night.
“Regardless of how we got here, this is no longer just a human-human issue. [Pentagon];This is an industry-wide issue, and it is important that we make our position clear,” Altman wrote in a memo obtained by Axios.
“We have long believed that AI should not be used for mass surveillance or autonomous lethal weapons, and that humans should always be on top of high-stakes automated decision-making. These are our main red lines.”
Mr. Altman added: [Pentagon] This allows us to deploy our model in a confidential environment, which fits our principles. Require contracts to cover all uses except those that are illegal or unsuitable for cloud deployment, such as domestic surveillance or autonomous assault weapons. ”
Anthropic, which bills itself as the most secure of the big AI companies, has been mired in months of disagreements with the Department of Defense. U.S. defense officials had sought unfettered access to Claude’s capabilities, saying it would help protect the country. Anthropic, on the other hand, has resisted allowing its products to be used in mass surveillance or weapon systems capable of killing people autonomously.
“No matter how much threats and punishments we receive, [Pentagon] Our position on domestic mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons will change,” Anthropic said in a statement Friday night.
“We have worked in good faith to reach an agreement. [Pentagon]“We are clear that we support all lawful uses of AI for national security, with the two narrow exceptions noted above. To our knowledge, these exceptions have not affected a single government mission to date,” the company continued.
OpenAI announced Friday that it has raised $110 billion in a major funding round, valuing the company at $840 billion.
