OpenAI announces Pentagon deal after Trump bans Anthropic

President Trump ordered the U.S. government to stop using the artificial intelligence company Anthropic’s products and the Pentagon moved to designate the company a national security risk on Friday, in a sharp escalation of a high-stakes fight over the military’s use of AI.

Hours after the president’s announcement, rival company OpenAI said it had struck a deal with the Defense Department to provide its own AI technology for classified networks.

The administration’s decisions cap an acrimonious dispute between Anthropic and the Pentagon over whether the company could prohibit its tools from being used in mass surveillance of American citizens or to power autonomous weapon systems, as part of a military contract worth up to $200 million.

In a post on X announcing competitor OpenAI’s deal with the Defense Department, the company’s CEO Sam Altman, who previously cited similar concerns, said his agreement with the government included safeguards like the ones Anthropic had asked for.