Pentagon strikes classified AI deals with OpenAI, Google, and Nvidia — but not Anthropic

The flurry of deals leaves out Anthropic, which the department previously used for handling classified information.

Photo by Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images

The Pentagon has struck deals with OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, Elon Musk’s xAI, and the startup Reflection, allowing the agency to use their AI tools in classified settings, according to an announcement on Friday. At the same time, the Defense Department has left out Anthropic — which it previously used for classified information — after declaring it a supply-chain risk.

This builds upon deals with OpenAI and xAI, which have already reached agreements with the Pentagon for the “lawful” use of their AI systems. A report from The Information suggests Google has struck a similar agreement. As noted by The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft and Amazon already have “deep relationships with the Pentagon,” while contracts with Nvidia and Reflection are new.

Emil Michael, the Defense Department’s chief technology officer, told CNBC on Friday that Anthropic is still a supply chain risk, but called its powerful security model, Mythos, a “separate national security moment,” adding that “we have to make sure that our networks are hardened up, because that model has capabilities that are particular to finding cyber vulnerabilities and patching them.”

In its announcement, the Pentagon says the agreements with the seven AI companies will allow for the “lawful operational use” of their systems, “establishing the United States military as an AI-first fighting force.”