OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that the company has reached an agreement with the United States Department of Defense to provide its artificial intelligence technology for use within a classified network. The deal follows the withdrawal of Anthropic, the Pentagon’s previous contractor, which had raised ethical objections to the military’s use of AI. Altman said the Defense Department demonstrated a “deep respect for safety” and agreed that OpenAI’s technology would not be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapon systems, emphasizing that humans would retain responsibility for the use of force.

The announcement came shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s technology, citing disagreements with the company’s leadership. Anthropic had refused to remove safeguards that prevented its AI from being used for surveillance or autonomous weapons. Reports also alleged that Anthropic’s Claude AI had been used by the U.S. military in the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this year.

Human rights advocates have expressed concern about the unregulated use of AI in military operations, referencing similar systems reportedly deployed by the Israeli army in Gaza.