OpenAI is formally on the Pentagon’s payroll. The Department of Defence introduced a $200 million contract with OpenAI to supply the US authorities with new synthetic intelligence instruments, together with these used for proactive cyber protection.
In a submit outlining its newest contracts, the DoD mentioned that OpenAI “will develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to deal with essential nationwide safety challenges in each warfighting and enterprise domains.” The work will primarily be accomplished within the Washington, DC area with an estimated completion date of July 2026.
OpenAI mentioned in a brand new weblog submit that the DoD contract is its first partnership underneath a brand new initiative to supply its AI know-how to staff throughout federal, state, and native governments. The firm is providing customized fashions for nationwide safety on “a restricted foundation,” based on the announcement, with OpenAI saying that each one use circumstances should adjust to its insurance policies and tips. OpenAI’s present utilization coverage bans its providers from getting used to “develop or use weapons” and “injure others or destroy property.”
“This contract, with a $200 million ceiling, will deliver OpenAI’s industry-leading experience to assist the Defense Department determine and prototype how frontier AI can rework its administrative operations, from bettering how service members and their households get well being care, to streamlining how they have a look at program and acquisition knowledge, to supporting proactive cyber protection,” OpenAI mentioned.
This isn’t the primary time OpenAI has bedded down with the navy, having entered a partnership with Anduril Industries in December 2024 to combine its AI software program into the protection tech firm’s counterdrone techniques. The new one-year DoD contract is antithetical to earlier variations of OpenAI’s phrases of service that banned its know-how from getting used for “navy and warfare” — a prohibition eliminated by the corporate final yr.
