OpenAI In, Anthropic Out: Why The Pentagon Is Shifting Its AI Partnerships

Last week, Pentagon Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth abruptly terminated the Pentagon’s work with Anthropic after a dispute over how the company’s AI systems could be used by the military and intelligence agencies.

In a statement, Anthropic said two clause - mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons were not included in the contract before and should not be part of any agreement. The company has argued that these guardrails are essential as AI becomes more powerful.

U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth tweeted accused Anthropic of trying to restrict military use of its technology and instating the Pentagon must have “full, unrestricted access” for all lawful defence purposes. He argued that no private company should have veto power over national security decisions.

On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump stepped in and directed the government to stop working with Anthropic entirely. The Pentagon added it would label the startup a “supply-chain risk,” a move that could significantly limit its ability to secure future government contracts. Anthropic responded that it would challenge any such designation in court.

On Saturday, OpenAI announced a new agreement with the Pentagon, saying it retains control over its safety systems, deploys tools through the cloud, ensures cleared personnel are involved, and has strong contractual protections in place.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tweeted that the Department of War agrees to ban domestic mass surveillance and ensure human control over the use of force, and that those principles are written into the new agreement.

Meanwhile, Claude surged to the number one spot in the Apple App Store this week, according to SensorTower. A company spokesperson added that daily signups have broken all-time records every day this week, free users have grown by more than 60% since January, and paid subscriptions have more than doubled this year.

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