Pentagon Signs Classified AI Deals with 7 Tech Giants, Excludes Anthropic

DoD Announces Classified AI Agreements

The U.S. Department of Defense signed agreements on May 1 with OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Oracle, Nvidia, SpaceX, and Reflection to deploy AI on its Impact Level 6 and IL7 classified military networks. The systems are intended to "streamline data synthesis, elevate situational understanding, and augment warfighter decision-making."

Why Anthropic Was Excluded

Anthropic was not included. The Trump administration labeled the company a "supply chain risk" — a designation previously reserved for firms tied to foreign adversaries — after Anthropic insisted that the Pentagon include safety guardrails for AI use in warfare. The White House has since reopened discussions with Anthropic, reportedly following the company's announcement of new technical breakthroughs.

Scale of Military AI Adoption

More than 1.3 million DoD personnel — warfighters, civilians, and contractors — already use the department's official AI platform, GenAI.mil. The new agreements are expected to compress multi-month tasks into days once fully deployed.

Source: Washington Post · CNN Business