Google signs classified AI deal with the Pentagon for ‘any lawful government purpose’

The Information reported the deal on Tuesday. The agreement allows the DoD to use Google’s AI models without the restrictions that led Anthropic to be blacklisted in February. Google becomes the latest in a line of AI companies, alongside OpenAI and xAI, to supply classified AI capability to the US military.

Google has signed a classified AI deal with the US Department of Defense allowing the Pentagon to use Google’s AI models for “any lawful government purpose,” The Information reported on Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The deal was reported hours after more than 560 Google employees published an open letter to CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday, urging him to refuse exactly this kind of classified military AI arrangement. Google had not publicly confirmed or commented on the agreement at the time of this article’s publication.

The agreement, as characterised by The Information, is ...