Openai Announces New Deal With Pentagon — Including Ethical Safeguards

The artificial intelligence startup OpenAI announced Friday night that it has reached an agreement to deploy its technology at the Pentagon — while imposing the same kinds of ethical guardrails that have triggered the Trump administration to sever ties with the company's archrival Anthropic.

"Tonight, we reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote on X, adding that the Defense Department "displayed a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome."

Two of the most crucial safety principles for OpenAI are "prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems," Altman wrote. He said the Pentagon "agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement."

He added that "we are asking the [Defense Department] to offer these same terms to all AI companies."

Altman's statement came hours after President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lashed out at Anthropic for insisting on similar restrictions on its software's uses at the Pentagon. Trump labeled Anthropic a "A RADICAL LEFT, WOKE COMPANY," ordering all federal agencies to cease their use of its software, while Hegseth said military contractors would have to discontinue any work with Anthropic.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation that it has reached a deal with OpenAI, the terms of any such an agreement, and an explanation for why it would allow OpenAI to impose safeguards similar to those that it objected to from Anthropic.