OpenAI to work with Pentagon after Anthropic dropped by Trump over company’s ethics concerns | OpenAI
OpenAI said it had struck a deal with the Pentagon to provide artificial intelligence to secret US military networks, just hours after Donald Trump ordered the government to stop using the services of one of the company’s main rivals.
Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, announced the move Friday night. This followed a deal between the Trump administration and Anthropic, the rival AI company that runs the Claude system, that collapsed after Anthropic sought assurances that its technology would not be used for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons systems that could kill people without human intervention.
Announcing the agreement, Altman insisted that OpenAI’s agreement with the government included assurances that it would not be used for these purposes.
“Two of our most important security principles are the ban on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility in the use of force, including autonomous weapons systems,” Altman said. wrote to x. He added that the Pentagon “subscribes to these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them in our agreement.”
Altman also said he hopes the Pentagon will “offer the same terms to all AI companies” as a way to “de-escalate tensions away from legal and government action and toward reasonable agreements.”
If OpenAI’s agreement prohibits the use of its systems for unethical purposes, it appears that the company has managed to get assurances that Anthropic has not. Altman announced the agreement with the government shortly after Trump said he would order all federal agencies to “IMMEDIATELY STOP” all use of Anthropic technology.
The Pentagon demanded that Anthropic relax the ethical rules regarding artificial intelligence systems or face serious consequences.
Minister in question On the Truth Social platform: “The leftist lunatics at Anthropic made a HUGE MISTAKE trying to STRONGLY SUPPORT the public [Pentagon]and force them to abide by the Terms of Service instead of our Constitution.
It is not yet known how OpenAI staff will react to the government agreement. Anthropic has received support from its fiercest rivals in its fight against the Trump administration. Approximately 500 OpenAI and Google employees open letter “We will not be divided,” he says.
“The Pentagon is negotiating with Google and OpenAI to get them to accept what Anthropic has rejected,” the letter says. “They are trying to split both companies out of fear that the other will cave in.”
Altman attempted to reassure OpenAI employees in a memo sent Friday night.
“No matter how we got here, it’s just Anthropic and [Pentagon]; This is an issue that concerns the entire industry, and it is important to clarify our stance,” Altman wrote. Obtained by Axios.
“We have long believed that AI should not be used for mass surveillance or autonomous lethal weapons, and that humans should remain in the loop for high-risk automated decisions. These are our main red lines.”
Altman added: “We’ll see if there’s a deal with the company. [Pentagon] This is a feature that allows our models to be deployed in confidential environments and complies with our policies. “We want the agreement to cover all uses other than those that are illegal or unsuitable for cloud deployments, such as domestic surveillance and autonomous strike weapons.”
Anthropic, which touts itself as the most security-focused among leading AI companies, has been mired in months-long disputes with the Pentagon. U.S. defense officials had pushed for unrestricted access to Claude’s capabilities, which they said could help protect the country. Meanwhile Anthropic resisted It allows its product to be used for mass surveillance or weapon systems that can kill people autonomously.
“There is no intimidation or punishment” [Pentagon] Anthropic said in a statement Friday night that it would change our position on mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.
“We tried to reach an agreement in good faith.” [Pentagon]The company went on to make clear that we support all lawful uses of AI for national security, with the two narrow exceptions above: “To our knowledge, these exceptions have not impacted a single government mission to date.”
OpenAI on Friday said it had raised $110 billion in a blockbuster funding round, which would value the company at $840 billion.
