OpenAI’s Sam Altman agrees to ’emergency’ deal with Defense Department after backlash

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Monday that the company “shouldn’t rush” its latest contract with the US Department of Defense and would make some revisions to the agreement.

The ChatGPT maker announced on Friday that it had signed a new contract with the Defense Department, just hours after the White House directed federal agencies to stop using rival AI company Anthropic’s tools and hours before Washington carried out strikes on Iran.

In a post on X, Altman said OpenAI would amend the agreement to include some new language, including that “AI systems may not be used for the purposeful domestic surveillance of US individuals and nationals.”

He said the Department of Defense has confirmed that intelligence agencies such as the NSA will not use OpenAI’s tools.

“There are a lot of things that the technology isn’t ready for, and we still don’t understand the trade-offs that are necessary for security,” said Altman, whose company works with the Pentagon on technical safeguards.

The CEO also admitted he made a mistake and “shouldn’t have rushed” to get its deal on Friday.

“We’re sincerely trying to de-escalate things and avoid a much worse outcome, but I think it’s just opportunistic and sloppy,” he said.

The acknowledgment comes after a public spat between Anthropic and Washington over the security of cloud AI systems. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also said the company would be named a supply chain threat.

Anthropic had sought guarantees that its equipment would not be used in the US to operate and develop autonomous weapons without domestic surveillance or human control.

The controversy began in January after it was revealed that the US military had used Anthropix’s cloud in its attack to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, although the company has not publicly objected to that use case.

OpenAI’s deal with the Pentagon prompted a public backlash online after talks between Anthropic and the Department of Defense broke down, with many users reportedly abandoning ChatGPT for the cloud in app stores.

In his post, Altman further addressed the controversy, saying: “In my conversations over the weekend, I reiterated that Anthropic should not be designated as a (supply chain risk) and we hope that we (the Department of Defense) will give them the same terms that we agreed to.”