OpenAI chief Altman tells staff company has no say over Pentagon decisions

By Rachel Metz

 

OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman told employees that the company doesn’t get to make the call about what the Defence Department does with its artificial intelligence software and suggested the desire to do so may have been part of tensions between the Pentagon and rival Anthropic PBC.

 

During an all-hands meeting on Tuesday, Altman said the Defence Department made clear it will listen to OpenAI’s expertise about the technology’s applications but the federal agency does not want the company to express opinions about whether certain military actions were good or bad ideas, according to a person familiar with the matter. “You do not get to make operational decisions,” Altman said, according to the person, who asked not to be named since the details are private. 

 

OpenAI declined to comment. 

 

The meeting marked Altman’s first chance to field questions from employees after OpenAI reached an agreement late Friday to let the Pentagon deploy the company’s artificial intelligence models in its classified network. That happened after a showdown with rival Anthropic, which had demanded its technology not be used for mass surveillance of Americans or the deployment of fully autonomous weapons.

 

Anthropic also reportedly asked questions about how its technology was used in the raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (Anthropic has denied discussing specific operations with the Defence Department.

 

Altman previously said he’d reached an agreement with the department that reflects OpenAI’s principles that prohibit domestic mass surveillance and require “human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems.” He later said that OpenAI’s hasty deal looked “opportunistic and sloppy,” and that the company was working with the department to “make some additions in our agreement to make our principles very clear.” That includes ensuring that AI isn’t used for domestic surveillance of Americans and that intelligence agencies like the National Security Agency can’t rely on OpenAI services.

 

During the all-hands meeting, Altman also said he’s continuing to push for the Defence Department to abandon its designation of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk — a label that has not previously been given to a US company and is typically applied to adversaries of the United States. Altman has previously said he wants to help de-escalate the standoff between the Pentagon and Anthropic.