Meanwhile, the Pentagon has been in discussions with OpenAI and Google about expanding their models’ availability from unclassified systems into more sensitive environments, Axios reported. The discussions with OpenAi apparently bore fruit, given that less than seven hours after Trump’s Truth Social post, OpenAI’s Altman posted on Twitter, “we reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network.”
In an apparent about-face, however, the Pentagon appeared to accept from OpenAI the same terms it rejected for Anthropic. “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,” Altman wrote. “The DoW agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has also sought to position his company as aligned with Anthropic’s core ethical objections, while still pursuing Pentagon business. Altman had said OpenAI shares “red lines” against mass surveillance of Americans and weapons that can fire without human oversight, even as it explores a path to work with the Defense Department.
