OpenAI is formally on the Pentagon’s payroll. The Division of Defence introduced a $200 million contract with OpenAI to offer the US authorities with new synthetic intelligence instruments, together with these used for proactive cyber protection.
In a put up outlining its newest contracts, the DoD mentioned that OpenAI “will develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to handle vital 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 put up that the DoD contract is its first partnership below a brand new initiative to offer its AI know-how to staff throughout federal, state, and native governments. The corporate is providing customized fashions for nationwide safety on “a restricted foundation,” in response to 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 companies from getting used to “develop or use weapons” and “injure others or destroy property.”
“This contract, with a $200 million ceiling, will convey OpenAI’s industry-leading experience to assist the Protection Division determine and prototype how frontier AI can remodel its administrative operations, from bettering how service members and their households get well being care, to streamlining how they take 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 army, having entered a partnership with Anduril Industries in December 2024 to combine its AI software program into the protection tech firm’s counterdrone methods. The brand 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 “army and warfare” — a prohibition eliminated by the corporate final 12 months.
