OpenAI seals a deal with the Pentagon shortly after the Trump Administration vetoed Anthropic

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, announced Friday that it has secured an agreement with the Pentagon to provide artificial intelligence tools intended for use in classified systems. "In all of our interactions, the DoW displayed a deep respect for security and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote on his social media, hours after stressing that OpenAI shares similar principles and stating that the company does not want its models to be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons.

Altman also explained that OpenAI secured authority to build safeguards into its systems aimed at preventing uses that the company rejects. "Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility in the use of force, including for autonomous weapons systems. The DoW agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement," he said, going on to reveal that Pentagon officials agreed to have some OpenAI employees work alongside government personnel on classified projects.

The announcement came just hours after President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using A.I. products developed by competitor Anthropic. The talks unfolded amid a standoff between that company and the Department of War. Government officials allegedly pressured Anthropic to grant broad access to its systems, without the restrictions the company sought to maintain, warning that a refusal could jeopardize its government contracts. Anthropic maintained that it would not allow its technology to be used for domestic surveillance of Americans or for fully autonomous lethal weapons.

On Friday night, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called Anthropic a "supply chain risk to national security" after negotiations failed over the terms that would govern the use of its A.I. systems.