Sam Altman backs rival Anthropic in fight with Pentagon
Source: BBC Technology
OpenAI boss Sam Altman has weighed in on the deepening row between the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and rival AI company Anthropic, throwing his support behind his competitor.
Altman said in a note to staff that he shares the same “red lines” as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who has refused to give the Pentagon unfettered access to the firm’s AI tools. In the memo, Altman added that any OpenAI contracts for defence would also reject uses that were “unlawful or unsuited to cloud deployments, such as domestic surveillance and autonomous offensive weapons.”
Pentagon pressure on Anthropic
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has threatened Amodei with retaliation if the tech boss insists on limiting how Anthropic is used. In a meeting with Amodei, Hegseth appeared to make two contradictory threats:
- He would invoke the Defense Production Act, allowing the government to use Anthropic’s products as it sees fit.
- He would deem Anthropic a “supply chain risk,” meaning the company would be labelled not secure enough for government use.
Anthropic objects to its AI tools, including Claude, being used for:
- “Mass domestic surveillance”
- “Fully autonomous weapons”
The DoD says it is not asking to use Anthropic for either purpose, but it wants the company to accept “any lawful use” of its tools.
“Dario Amodei wants to override Congress and make his own rules to defy democratically decided laws,”
Emil Michael, former Uber executive and Undersecretary of Defence, posted on X the night after Amodei’s rejection.
Altman’s internal memo
Altman’s memo emphasized that the government’s reaction to Anthropic’s safety concerns “risks our national security, and also risks the government resorting to actions which could risk American leadership in AI.” He added that OpenAI would like to help de‑escalate the situation.
“I do not fully understand how things got here; I do not know why Anthropic did their deal with the Pentagon and Palantir in the way they originally did it,” Altman wrote.
“But regardless of how we got here, this is no longer just an issue between Anthropic and the DoW; this is an issue for the whole industry and it is important to clarify our stance.”
Industry response
On Friday morning, groups representing roughly 700,000 tech workers at Amazon, Google, and Microsoft signed an open letter urging their employers to “refuse to comply” with the Pentagon’s demands. The elected Executive Board of the Alphabet Workers Union stated:
“Tech workers are united in our stance that our employers should not be in the business of war.”
The union also expressed concern that Google might capitulate to the Pentagon if placed in a similar position to Anthropic. The BBC has requested a response from Google.
Valuation and contracts
Anthropic’s work with the Pentagon is part of a contract worth $200 million. Earlier this month, the company’s valuation was reported at $380 billion, based on current revenue and future expected earnings.
A former DoD official, who asked not to be named, told the BBC that Anthropic appears to have the upper hand in the fight and that the DoD’s basis for threatening the company—invoking the Defense Production Act or labeling it a supply‑chain risk—is “extremely flimsy.” Should Hegseth follow through on either threat, Anthropic could, in theory, sue the Defence Department or the individuals involved.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addresses the AI Impact Summit, New Delhi, India, February 19 2026. REUTERS/Bhawika Chhabra