OpenAI strikes deal with Pentagon to use technology on ‘classified network’ | Arms news

Sam Altman claims his technology will not be used by the US military for ‘domestic mass surveillance’ or ‘autonomous weapons’.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said his company has entered into a deal with the United States Department of Defense after its previous contractor Anthropic raised ethical concerns about the military use of its artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

In a statement shared at X late Friday, Altman said OpenAI made the deal after the Defense Department demonstrated “deep respect for security.”

Altman said the Pentagon agrees with his company’s principles that OpenAI’s technology cannot be used for “domestic mass surveillance” or “autonomous weapons systems,” affirming that humans take “responsibility for the use of force.”

“We are committed to serving all humanity as best we can,” Altman said, adding, “The world is a complex, confusing and sometimes dangerous place.”

The announcement came hours after US President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using Anthropic, whose CEO Dario Amode said his company could not “in good conscience agree” to some demands from the Pentagon.

The US military reportedly used Anthropic’s cloud AI software to assist in the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January.

Anthropic said it is refusing to remove safeguards that prevent the U.S. from using its technology for domestic mass surveillance and programming autonomous weapons that attack targets without human intervention.

Human rights advocates have raised concerns about the arbitrary use of AI models, including the Israeli army’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Israeli forces performed “Lavender”, “The Gospel” and “Where’s Daddy?” AI systems have reportedly been used including To process mass surveillance data and create lists of Palestinian people to kill.

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump called Anthropic “left-wing nut jobs” and said agencies should immediately stop using its technology, but gave the Pentagon six months to phase out its use, which is already embedded in military platforms.