Altman Calls OpenAI's Pentagon Deal 'Sloppy'
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has publicly described the company's recent Pentagon deal as “opportunistic and sloppy.” Altman acknowledged that the deal was negotiated hastily after competitor Anthropic was banned, raising questions about the process and transparency of high-stakes AI partnerships with the government.
The deal materialized after the U.S. government banned competitor Anthropic, designating it a "Supply-Chain Risk to National Security." This action followed Anthropic's refusal to remove contractual clauses that prevented its AI from being used for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons systems. Anthropic, which had a $200 million Pentagon contract, stood firm on its "two red lines," arguing that current AI systems are not reliable enough to avoid lethal mistakes without human judgment. CEO Dario Amodei called the government's ban "retaliatory and punitive." Hours after President Trump ordered federal agencies to cease using Anthropic's technology, OpenAI announced its own agreement to deploy AI models in classified environments. Altman later stated he "shouldn't have rushed" the deal, acknowledging it was an attempt to "de-escalate things and avoid a much worse outcome." This partnership represented a significant shift from OpenAI's earlier policies. In January 2024, the company had removed explicit language banning "military and warfare" from its usage policy. Following intense public backlash to the Pentagon deal, OpenAI amended the contract to add more explicit language. The new terms specifically forbid the intentional domestic surveillance of U.S. citizens and restrict use by intelligence agencies like the NSA pending a separate agreement. OpenAI asserts its agreement provides stronger safeguards than Anthropic's, citing a cloud-only deployment and the direct involvement of cleared company personnel for oversight. Still, the deal sparked calls for a boycott of ChatGPT, while downloads for Anthropic's rival AI, Claude, surged.
