Altman reaches agreement with Pentagon on deploying OpenAI models for classified work

After Pentagon moved to designate the artificial intelligence company Anthropic a national security risk and the US President Donald Trump asked its government to stop using the artificial intelligence company Anthropic's products, Sam Altman said Friday that his company OpenAI has struck a deal with the Pentagon to use its models in the defense agency's classified network, using "technical safeguards."

Making the announcement, Altman taking to X wrote, "Tonight, we reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network."

He also spoke on the safety measure his company will take to deploy their models in Pantagons classified network.

"In all of our interactions, the DoW displayed a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome," wrote Altman and added, "We also will build technical safeguards to ensure our models behave as they should, which the DoW also wanted. We will deploy FDEs to help with our models and to ensure their safety, we will deploy on cloud networks only.

Anthropic Reacts

Earlier today, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth shared on X that he is directing the Department of War to designate Anthropic a supply chain risk.

Reactiong to the decision, the company wrote, “We are deeply saddened by these developments. As the first frontier AI company to deploy models in the US government’s classified networks, Anthropic has supported American warfighters since June 2024 and has every intention of continuing to do so.”