OpenAI Will Deploy AI in US Military Classified Networks

Announcement Comes Hours After Trump Blacklists Anthropic David Perera (@daveperera) • February 27, 2026

OpenAI said late Friday night it reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense to deploy its large language models onto military classified networks.

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The announcement, made by company CEO Sam Altman on social media network X, came hours after President Donald Trump instructed federal agencies to cease using AI developed by OpenAI rival Anthropic. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said he designated Anthropic a "supply chain risk," blacklisting the company from receiving Pentagon business (see: Trump Escalates AI Clash With Anthropic).

Altman said that defense officials agreed with OpenAI executives on the importance of "prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems."

"We also will build technical safeguards to ...