Inside the Pentagon’s Fight to Use AI Any Way It Wants in Weapons and Surveillance

OpenAI steps in after Anthropic refuses to allow Defense Department to use its AI technology in instruments of war

BY KEVIN HAYNES, NEWS WRITER

OpenAI is usurping its chief rival Anthropic as the primary artificial-intelligence resource at the Defense Department.

The deal was announced late Friday after Anthropic refused to allow its Claude models to be used in autonomous weapons and surveillance as demanded by the Pentagon.

“We cannot in good conscience accede to their request,” said Dario Amodei, Anthropic’s chief executive, who signed a $200 million contract with Defense Department last summer.

Hours after the company failed to meet a 5 p.m. deadline for compliance, Sam Altman’s OpenAI stepped into the void. He pointed out that his arrangement with the Defense Department parallels the terms of Anthropic’s contract in terms of prohibiting the military from using OpenAI’s ChatGPT for mass surveillance or weapons. But, unlike Amodei, he indicated he’s willing to “fully trust” that the government will abide by the agreement.

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“We have expressed our strong desire to see things de-escalate away from legal and governmental actions and towards reasonable agreements,” Altman said.

In addition to phasing out Anthropic over the next six months, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on X that he is going to designate the company “a supply-chain risk,” a pronouncement that would hinder its ability to work with other government agencies.

“America’s warfighters will never be held hostage by the ideological whims of Big Tech,” wrote Hegseth, adding that Anthropic will face civil and criminal penalties if it doesn’t fully cooperate during the transition period.

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