Deal formalizes safeguards on surveillance and autonomous weapons as Defense Department phases out Anthropic following supply-chain designation.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
OpenAI has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of War to deploy its artificial intelligence models on the Pentagon’s classified networks, CEO Sam Altman announced Feb. 27, outlining what he described as binding safety principles governing the partnership.
In a public statement on X, Altman said discussions with the department reflected “a deep respect for safety” and “a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome.”
“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. We also will build technical safeguards to ensure our models behave as they should, which the DoW also wanted.”
Altman added that he hoped similar contractual terms could be extended across the artificial intelligence sector. “We have expressed our strong desire to see things de-escalate away from legal and governmental actions and towards reasonable agreements,” he said. “We remain committed to serve all of humanity as best we can.”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth reposted Altman’s message but did not issue a separate statement. The Department of War did not respond to requests for comment.
The announcement follows actions by President Donald Trump directing federal agencies to discontinue the use of technology produced by Anthropic after the company declined a Pentagon request to expand access to its AI systems. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had previously expressed concerns that the technology could be used for domestic mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.
Subsequently, Hegseth ordered the Pentagon to classify Anthropic as a national security supply-chain risk. Under that designation, contractors, suppliers and partners conducting business with the U.S. military are barred from engaging in commercial activity with the company. The department stated that Anthropic would continue limited services for six months to allow for a transition to another provider.
Anthropic responded that it would challenge the designation in court. “We have tried in good faith to reach an agreement with the Department of War, making clear that we support all lawful uses of AI for national security aside from [mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons],” the company said.
According to a company statement, the Pentagon has used Anthropic’s Claude AI system for mission-critical operations including intelligence analysis, modeling and simulation, operational planning and cyber operations.
The OpenAI agreement formalizes the introduction of its models into classified defense environments while codifying restrictions on surveillance and autonomous weapons. The Department of War has not disclosed additional technical details regarding the deployment timeline or scope of access.
Original article
Comments