The Pentagon on Friday said it has signed agreements with seven leading artificial intelligence (AI) companies: SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, Nvidia, Reflection, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services.
“These agreements will accelerate the transition toward establishing the United States Army as an AI-first fighting force and strengthen our warfighters’ ability to maintain decision superiority across all domains of warfighting,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
According to the Pentagon, the companies had agreed to the deployment of their technology by the US military for “any legitimate use”. Startup Anthropic, which makes popular cloud chatbots, refused to include a lawful use standard in its contract with the Defense Department last month in a high-profile dispute with the bureau.
The US Department of Defense is budgeting billions of dollars for cutting-edge programs related to intelligence, drone warfare, classified and unclassified information networks and more from several technology companies. It has requested $54 billion for the development of autonomous weapons alone. How each individual company’s technology would be deployed was not specified.
One of the companies, Reflection AI, has not yet released a publicly available model. The two-year-old company aims to create open-source models in response to Chinese AI firms like DeepSeek. It is seeking a valuation of $25 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported in MarchAnd has received funding from Nvidia as well as 1789 Capital, the venture fund where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner.
The plans have sparked controversy with some AI firms and raised controversy and concerns over public spending, global cybersecurity and the potential to use such technology for domestic surveillance.
In January Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unveiled a new “AI Acceleration Strategy” at the Pentagon, which he said would “initiate experimentation, eliminate bureaucratic barriers, focus investment, and demonstrate the execution approach needed to ensure we lead the way in military AI and that it is even more effective in the future.”
On Friday, the department announced that the companies mentioned will be integrated into the Pentagon’s “Impact Level 6 and 7” network environment to “streamline data synthesis, enhance situational understanding, and enhance warfighter decision making in complex operational environments,” according to a federal statement.
“These agreements will accelerate the transition toward establishing the United States Army as an AI-first fighting force and strengthen our warfighters’ ability to maintain decision superiority across all domains of warfighting,” the Pentagon statement said.
Anthropic has been at odds with the Pentagon over guarding how the military can use its artificial intelligence tools. The AI giant objected to the lawful use clause in its contract over concerns that its technology could be used for domestic mass surveillance or fully autonomous lethal weapons. In response, the Pentagon last month labeled Anthropic a supply-chain risk, the first time a U.S. company has been designated that way. The Pentagon and its contractors are barred from using Anthropic’s products, although it is difficult to get them out of classified networks. In response, Anthropic filed a lawsuit.
Defense Department officials believe the signing with Anthropic’s rivals could bring the holdout startup back to the negotiating table. the new York Times. Anthropic’s latest AI model, Cybersecurity-focused Mythos, has irked government officials and bankers with its ability to find vulnerabilities in even well-tested software. The release of Mythos has complicated Trump and Hegseth’s efforts to blacklist Anthropic.
Reuters contributed reporting
