OpenAI’s Sam Altman announces Pentagon deal with ‘technical safeguards’

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced late on Friday that his company has reached an agreement allowing the Department of Defense to use its AI models in the department’s classified network. This follows a high-profile standoff between the department — also known under the Trump administration as the Department of War — and OpenAI’s rival Anthropic. The Pentagon pushed AI companies, including Anthropic, to allow their models be used “all lawful purposes,” while Anthropic sought to draw a red line around mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. In a lengthy statement released Thursday , Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said the company “never raised objections to particular military operations nor attempted to limit use of our technology in an ad hoc manner,” but he argued that “in a narrow set of cases, we believe AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values.” More than 60 OpenAI employees and 300 Google employees signed an open letter this week asking their employers to support Anthropic’s position. After Anthropic and the Pentagon failed to reach an agreement, President Donald Trump criticized the “Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic” in a social media post that also directed federal agencies to stop using the company’s products after a six-month phase out period. In a separate post , Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth claimed Anthropic was trying to “seize veto power over the operational decisions of the United States military.” Hegseth also said he is designating Anthropic as a supply-chain risk: “Effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic.” On Friday, Anthropic said it had “not yet received direct communication from the Department of War or the White House on the status of our negotiations,” but insisted it would “challenge any supply chain risk designation in court.” Techcrunch event Save up to $300 or 30% to TechCrunch Founder Summit ...