OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced late Friday that the company had signed a deal with the Pentagon for its AI tools to be used in the military’s classified systems, but with seemingly similar guardrails rival Anthropic had also requested. The DoW agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement,” Altman said on X. It would require all contractors who work with the military to prove their military work does not touch Anthropic’s products. It’s not clear what is different about OpenAI’s deal with the Pentagon versus what Anthropic wanted. CNN has asked both the Pentagon and OpenAI for clarifications.

Source: CNN February 28, 2026 15:05 UTC