OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced a deal with the Department of Defense on using its artificial intelligence (AI) models.
This comes after President Donald Trump ordered US federal agencies to "immediately cease" using AI tools from Anthropic.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman stated, “Tonight, we reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network.”
“In all of our interactions, the DoW displayed a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome,” Altman added.
Earlier, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth labeled the company a "supply chain risk.”
This move has ignited tensions among the Anthropic and Pentagon. The label is typically reserved for foreign adversaries, and it would force DoD vendors and contractors to certify that they aren’t utilising Anthropic’s models.
Notably, Anthropic was the first lab to launch its models across the DoD’s classified network, and has been continuously trying to negotiate the current terms of its agreement with the agency before discussions collapsed.
Altman told employees in a Thursday memo that the ChatGPT manufacturer shared the same “red lines” as Anthropic. Though, DoD still agreed to OpenAI's limitations.
Altman stated, “Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems.”
Though the reason behind why the DoD chose OpenAI and not Anthropic, remains underwraps, though Anthropic has been constantly receiving criticism for being overly concerned regarding AI safety by government officials.
OpenAI now plans to build “technical safeguards to ensure its models behave as they should,” and that the company will deploy personnel to “help with our models and to ensure their safety,” Altman said.
It is pertinent to mention that Anthropic is “deeply saddened” by the Pentagon’s decision to label the company a supply chain risk, and intends to take legal action against the decision.
