Sam Altman reveals real reason why OpenAI rushed to partner with US Military after Trump banned Anthropic

OpenAI executives have given more information regarding the AI startup's contract with the US Department of Defense after facing backlash online. The Sam Altman-led startup has clarified that it will not allow for any unconstitutional acts to be done with its AI models. Here are the details.

OpenAI reached an agreement with the US Department of Defense for AI use just hours after US President Donald Trump terminated Anthropic’s deals with the government. OpenAI’s decision to replace Anthropic was met with criticism online. Following the backlash, Sam Altman and other executives have shared more details of how this contract will work.

On X, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admitted that the deal had been “rushed” and the optics “don’t look good” for the company. However, according to Altman, the AI startup wanted to de-escalate the situation between the US Military and the AI industry. He wrote, “If we are right and this does lead to a de-escalation between the DoW and the industry, we will look like geniuses.”

However, Altman admitted that the AI startup could face further criticism if things go sideways. He added, “If not, we will continue to be characterized as rushed and uncareful.”

Anthropic was labeled a supply chain risk by the US government after Dario Amodei refused to accept the Pentagon’s demands for unrestricted AI use. Though the removal of Anthropic’s Claude from classified networks won’t happen overnight, with a 6-month transition period in place.

The AI startup shared a blog post, giving more details. OpenAI claimed that apart from Anthropic’s red lines over no use of AI for mass domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons systems, the company also mandated that its AI models should not be used “for high-stakes automated decisions (e.g. systems such as “social credit”).”

The Sam Altman-led AI firm states that its models will be deployed via the cloud. According to OpenAI’s head of national security partnerships, Katrina Mulligan, this ensures that the AI is not used for autonomous weapons. She wrote on LinkedIn, “By limiting our deployment to cloud API, we can ensure that our models cannot be integrated directly into weapons systems, sensors, or other operational hardware.”