Eight tech giants sign Pentagon deals to build an "AI-first fighting force" across classified networks

The US Department of War has signed deals with eight companies to deploy AI across classified military networks: SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, Nvidia, Reflection, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and Oracle. The agreements aim to "accelerate the transformation toward establishing the United States military as an AI-first fighting force" and strengthen "decision superiority across all domains of warfare." According to the announcement, the tools will be used for "lawful operational use." The other seven companies presumably accepted the same usage terms as OpenAI.

Anthropic pushed back on similar wording ("all lawful use"), with CEO Dario Amodei arguing current laws leave loopholes open, such as mass surveillance through commercial data sets. The Pentagon then labeled Anthropic a supply chain risk, and the Trump administration ordered federal agencies to stop using its technology. Anthropic has filed a lawsuit in response.

In a leaked memo, Amodei dismissed OpenAI's Pentagon contract as "80% safety theater." OpenAI has drawn three red lines: no domestic mass surveillance, no autonomous weapons, and no automated high-risk decisions. But legal experts question whether these commitments mean much without explicit contractual carve-outs.