OpenAI says it can’t control how Pentagon uses its AI, reports say

By Selcuk Uysal

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees on Tuesday that the company does not control how the US Department of Defense uses its artificial intelligence products in military operations and does not make operational decisions about their deployment, according to reports.

Altman said while the Pentagon values OpenAI’s technical expertise and allows the company to apply its own safety measures, “you do not get to make operational decisions,” Bloomberg and CNBC reported, according to people familiar with the matter.

The comments come amid intense scrutiny over the role of AI in warfare and ethical concerns among AI workers about its potential battlefield applications.

The statement followed OpenAI’s recent agreement with the Pentagon, reached shortly after rival Anthropic PBC rejected a similar contract reportedly because of issues such as restrictions on mass domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons.

Anthropic’s AI model Claude had been used by the US military in classified operations, including a reported operation against former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.

After Anthropic declined to revise its safeguards, OpenAI stepped in, and its models are now being deployed on classified networks.