washington – The Department of Defense announced Friday that it has partnered with seven technology companies to harness the power of artificial intelligence and enable the military to enhance its use of AI to support the war effort.
Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Nvidia, OpenAI, Reflection and SpaceX will provide resources using classified systems to “enhance warfighter decision-making in complex operational environments,” the Pentagon said.
The Department of Defense has rapidly accelerated its use of AI in recent years. A March report from the Brennan Center for Justice said the technology could help militaries reduce the time it takes to identify and attack targets on the battlefield, while also helping to organize weapons maintenance and supply lines.
But AI is already raising concerns about its potential to invade Americans’ privacy and allow machines to select targets on the battlefield. One company with a Pentagon contract said its agreement requires human oversight in certain situations.
Those concerns were raised by an unlisted company, Anthropic, which is currently battling the Department of Defense in court. The technology company said it is seeking guarantees in the contract that the military will not use its technology for fully autonomous weapons or surveillance of American citizens. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the company must authorize any use the Pentagon deems lawful.
Anthropic filed the lawsuit after Republican President Donald Trump tried to stop all federal agencies from using its chatbot, and Mr. Claude and Mr. Hegseth sought to designate the company as a supply chain risk, a designation meant to protect against sabotage of national security systems by foreign adversaries.
In March, OpenAI announced an agreement with the Department of Defense to effectively replace Anthropic with ChatGPT in classified environments. OpenAI confirmed in a statement Friday that this is the same agreement it announced in early March.
“As we said when we first announced the agreement months ago, we believe those who protect America deserve the best tools in the world,” the company said.
A company’s agreement with the Pentagon included language that required human oversight for missions in which AI systems operated autonomously or semi-autonomously, according to a person not authorized to speak publicly about the agreement. The text also states that AI tools must be used in a manner consistent with constitutional rights and civil liberties.
These are similar issues for Anthropic, but OpenAI has previously said it secured similar guarantees in its own contract with the Department of Defense.
Emile Michael, the Pentagon’s chief technology officer, told CNBC on Friday that it was irresponsible to rely solely on one company, acknowledging the friction with Anthropic.
“And when we found out that that partner didn’t really want to work with us the way we wanted, we made sure we had multiple different providers,” Michael said.
Some companies, such as Amazon and Microsoft, have long worked with the military in classified environments, but it was not immediately clear whether the new agreement would significantly change their partnership with the government. Some companies, such as chipmaker Nvidia and startup Reflection, are new to such efforts. Both companies are developing open source AI models, which Michael described as a priority to provide an “American alternative” to the rapid development of China’s AI systems, with some key components open for other companies to build on.
The Department of Defense announced Friday that military personnel are already using its AI capabilities through the official platform GenAI.mil.
“Warfighters, civilians, and contractors are now fielding these capabilities, cutting many tasks from months to days,” the Pentagon said, adding that the military’s improved AI capabilities “give warfighters the tools they need to act with confidence and protect the nation from any threat.”
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O’Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island.
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