Eight technology companies, including Google, Nvidia and SpaceX, have struck deals with the Pentagon to help the U.S. military gain an edge on the battlefield.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese agreements accelerate the transformation toward establishing the United States military as an AI-first fighting force and will strengthen our warfighters\u2019 ability to maintain decision superiority across all domains of warfare,\u201d the Department of Defense said Friday.<\/p>\n
The companies will deploy their AI technology on the department\u2019s \u201cclassified networks\u201d for \u201clawful operational use,\u201d according to the agency. <\/p>\n
OpenAI, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Oracle and AI startup Reflection are among the companies that agreed to work with the Pentagon.<\/p>\n
The agreements underscore how tech companies are expanding their work with the U.S. military even as some workers raise concerns about the use of AI for autonomous weapons and mass surveillance. Anthropic, the San Francisco company behind the chatbot Claude, clashed with the Pentagon earlier this year over whether there were adequate safeguards around the military\u2019s use of its technology. <\/p>\n
The Department of Defense accused Anthropic of trying to \u201cseize veto power\u201d over military decisions, though the company pushed back against that characterization. The agency labeled Anthropic a supply chain risk, and the Trump administration directed federal agencies to stop using the company\u2019s tools, setting off a legal battle over that designation.<\/p>\n
This week, hundreds of Google employees urged its chief executive, Sundar Pichai, to reject the use of its AI systems for classified workloads to ensure that its technology isn\u2019t used in \u201cinhumane or extremely harmful ways.\u201d Harmful use may occur without their knowledge since the work is classified, workers said in the letter.<\/p>\n
Google, Reflection and SpaceX didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment. The Department of Defense didn\u2019t say how much each company was being paid. A Pentagon official said some of the companies have active contracts while others have made agreements but formal contract are forthcoming. <\/p>\n
In an interview with CNBC, the Pentagon\u2019s chief technology officer, Emil Michael, said the department wanted to diversify the companies it worked with following its dispute with Anthropic.<\/p>\n