OpenAI will now deploy its artificial intelligence models on the United States Defence Department’s classified network, following the collapse of rival Anthropic’s Pentagon partnership over concerns about surveillance and autonomous weapons.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on February 27 that the agreement aligns with the company’s principles, including prohibiting “domestic mass surveillance” and ensuring “human responsibility for the use of force, including in autonomous weapon systems.”

Mr. Altman said on the social media platform X that the start-up had put safeguards in place to ensure its models function as intended during the deployment.

OpenAI declined to say whether its services for the department would take over work previously handled by Anthropic.

The Defence Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the night of February 27.

Earlier, the Pentagon had flagged Anthropic as a supply-chain risk, a move that could heavily affect the company’s operations and heightened tensions between the AI start-up and defence officials over its technology safeguards.

In a post on X, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Anthropic has six months to transition its AI services to a different provider.

“America’s warfighters will never be held hostage by the ideological whims of Big Tech,” Mr Hegseth wrote. “This decision is final.”