OpenAI has been awarded a $200 million contract to provide the US Defense Department with artificial intelligence tools.
The one-year contract will see the generative AI firm “develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains.”
The contract appears separate from a December partnership between OpenAI and defense contractor Anduril.
OpenAI “supports U.S.-led efforts to ensure the technology upholds democratic values,” Sam Altman, the company’s CEO, said at the time.
“Our partnership with Anduril will help ensure OpenAI technology protects US military personnel, and will help the national security community understand and responsibly use this technology to keep our citizens safe and free.”
OpenAI rival Anthropic also signed a similar contract with Palantir not long after.
This month Kevin Weil, chief product officer of OpenAI, and Bob McGrew, advisor at Thinking Machines Lab and former chief research officer of OpenAI, were sworn in as military reservists as part of a new group aimed at bridging the Silicon Valley-Pentagon divide.
With this contract, issued through the DoD’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office, OpenAI said that it has launched the ‘OpenAI for Government’ initiative – not to be confused with ‘OpenAI for Countries,’ the international Stargate effort.
“This contract, with a $200m ceiling, will bring OpenAI’s industry-leading expertise to help the Defense Department identify and prototype how frontier AI can transform its administrative operations, from improving how service members and their families get health care, to streamlining how they look at program and acquisition data, to supporting proactive cyber defense,” the company said in a blog post.
“All use cases must be consistent with OpenAI’s usage policies and guidelines.”
Back in 2024, OpenAI quietly removed language in its usage policy that banned “activity that has high risk of physical harm, including… weapons development… and military and warfare.”