Pentagon announces deal with seven AI companies for classified systems

Washington, DC – The United States Department of Defense has announced a new agreement with seven Artificial Intelligence companies to use their advanced technologies for its classified networks. The announcement on Friday is the latest instance of closer integration between the Pentagon, which has been expanding its use of AI for about a decade. Recommended Stories list of 3 items end of list It comes amid wider scrutiny over involvement by companies with the US military, which has gained renewed attention amid a public fallout with the AI company Anthropic and questions over how AI has been used in the US-Israeli war with Iran . In a statement, the Department of Defense said the new agreements with SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, NVIDIA, Reflection, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services “accelerate the transformation towards establishing the United States military as an AI-first fighting force and will strengthen our warfighters’ ability to maintain decision superiority across all domains of warfare”. It said the companies’ capabilities would be used in its most secure information systems to “streamline data synthesis, elevate situational understanding and augment warfighter decision-making in complex operational environments”. Noticeably absent from the Pentagon’s list was Anthropic, which had a major fallout with the Pentagon after pushing back on pressure to provide unrestricted access to its Claude AI programme for “all lawful use”. …