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You can add Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and NVIDIA to the growing list of tech giants that have decided to give the US Defense Department access to their AI tools. According to Bloomberg, the three companies — alongside a forth, Reflection AI — have signed agreements granting the Pentagon use of their AI technologies “for lawful operational use” on classified military networks.
“These agreements accelerate the transformation toward establishing the United States military as an AI-first fighting force,” the Pentagon said in a statement shared with Bloomberg. The four companies join xAI, OpenAI and Google in signing similar deals with the Defense Department. That essentially leaves Anthropic as the lone major US-based AI provider without a working agreement with the Pentagon.
In February, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to label Anthropic a “supply chain risk” if it did not agree to withdraw safeguards preventing the company’s chatbot, Claude, from being used for mass surveillance against Americans or deployed in fully autonomous weapons. After Anthropic refused to bow to Hegseth’s demands, President Trump ordered all federal agencies to stop using Claude and other Anthropic products within six months. As things stand, the two sides are embroiled in an ongoing court battle.
The Defense Department’s rapid adoption of AI tech, and the speed at which American tech companies are lining up to sell their wares to the Trump administration, should be a concern for all US citizens. If there’s some small comfort, however, it’s that it appears most people don’t approve of the deals AI companies are striking with the Pentagon. According to data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, OpenAI saw uninstalls of ChatGPT jump by 413 percent year-over-year in February after the company inked its deal with the Defense Department.
