OpenAI is exploring a contract to deploy its artificial intelligence technology on NATO networks, CEO Sam Altman revealed to staff this week – just days after the company stepped in to fill the gap left by rival Anthropic following a dramatic falling-out between the AI firm and the US Department of Defense.
A Reuters report suggests that Altman disclosed the potential NATO expansion during a company all-hands meeting, saying OpenAI was looking to deploy on NATO classified networks – though a company spokeswoman later clarified that Altman had misspoken, and the contract opportunity was actually for NATO’s unclassified networks.
The 32-member military alliance did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The NATO news came as OpenAI was still managing the fallout from its Pentagon deal. On February 28, OpenAI announced it had reached an agreement that would allow the US military to use its technologies in classified settings. Altman acknowledged that the negotiations, which the company began pursuing only after the Pentagon’s public reprimand of Anthropic, were “definitely rushed.”
Altman later admitted the company ‘shouldn’t have rushed’ the deal, outlining revisions to the agreement that included new language clarifying that AI systems “shall not be intentionally used for domestic surveillance of US persons and nationals.”
The situation that created OpenAI’s Pentagon opening was a clash between Anthropic and the Defense Department. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had stressed the company’s opposition to the Pentagon using its AI models for mass domestic surveillance or to power fully autonomous weapons – a standoff that ultimately led to Anthropic’s removal from the contract.
Critics were quick to question how OpenAI managed to negotiate terms Anthropic could not. OpenAI’s former policy research head Miles Brundage said employees’ “default assumption” should be that “OpenAI caved and framed it as not caving, and screwed Anthropic while framing it as helping them.”
The controversy took a measurable toll on OpenAI’s brand. Uninstalls of the ChatGPT mobile app surged 295 percent day-over-day on Saturday when news of the Pentagon deal broke, while Anthropic’s Claude overtook ChatGPT as the top free app on Apple’s App Store.
Despite the turbulence, OpenAI appeared undeterred in its military ambitions. NATO signalled last year that its members would be increasing their defence budgets drastically, triggering what observers described as an “AI gold rush” among tech companies. For OpenAI, the potential NATO contract would mark yet another significant step into government and defence work – a rapid pivot for a company that once kept its distance from classified military deployments.
Altman described the Pentagon deal as “an example of a complex, but right decision with extremely difficult brand consequences and very negative PR for us in the short term.”