Agreement includes safeguards on surveillance and autonomous weapons as federal agencies halt use of rival AI systems
OpenAI has secured a landmark agreement with the United States Department of Defense to deploy its artificial intelligence tools within classified military systems, just hours after the administration of President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using products from rival firm Anthropic.
The agreement, confirmed late Friday by OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman, includes safety safeguards similar to those Anthropic had sought during its own negotiations with the government. Those measures focus on prohibiting domestic mass surveillance and ensuring human oversight over any use of force, including autonomous weapon systems.
“The Department of War agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement,” Altman wrote on X, adding that OpenAI engineers will be deployed to the Pentagon to help ensure secure and responsible model use.
Anthropic said it plans to challenge the government’s “supply chain risk” designation, arguing the classification typically reserved for firms linked to foreign adversaries is unjustified. The Pentagon has not disclosed detailed differences between the two companies’ proposals, but officials, including Under Secretary for Technology Emil Michael, voiced confidence in the new partnership as the military expands AI capabilities.
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