How AI Companies Got Caught Up in US Military Efforts

In January, OpenAI quietly rescinded its ban on using AI for “military and warfare” purposes, and soon after it was reported to be working on “a number of projects” with the Pentagon. In November, in the same week that Donald Trump was reelected US president, Meta announced that the United States and select allies would be able to employ Llama for defense uses. A few days later, Anthropic announced that it too would allow its models to be used by the military and that it was partnering with the defense firm Palantir. As the year ended, OpenAI announced its own partnership with the defense startup Anduril. Finally, in February 2025, Google revised its AI principles to allow for the development and use of weapons and technologies that might harm people. Over the course of a single year, worries about the existential risks of AGI had ...