Pentagon Backs OpenAI Over Anthropic as Altman Gains Ground

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Trump administration has backed Sam Altman’s OpenAI after Pentagon announced removing Anthropic from supply chains

By TRH Tech Desk

New Delhi, February 28, 2026 — In a span of a few days, the war of AI in the US has tilted in favour of Open AI. The Trump administration lent its weight to Sam Altman-led AI giant over the rival Anthropic. With hours of US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth announcing snapping Pentagon’s ties with Anthropic, Altman disclosed the pact to “provide all models of OpenAi for Department of War.”

“Tonight, we reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network,” said Altman in a post on X. His post came within a few hours of Hegseth sharing a long post in which he announced the decision of the Trump administration to debar Anthropic from working with Pentagon. Hegseth also stated that no other suppliers of Pentagon can work with Anthropic.

Hegseth announced that “in conjunction with the President’s directive for the Federal Government to cease all use of Anthropic’s technology, I am directing the Department of War to designate Anthropic a Supply-Chain Risk to National Security.”

Altman in his post stated that “the DoW displayed a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome.” Anthropic had refused sharing its models for purposes of “mass surveillance.” Pentagon per reports had been demanding full access to “all model of Anthropic for security purposes, including mass surveillance.”

Altman’s post suggests that OpenAI will adhere to the demands of Pentagon, which were refused by Anthropic. Yet Altman sought to suggest that OpenAI will protect data privacy of the people.

“AI safety and wide distribution of benefits are the core of our mission. Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems,” added Altman.

Earlier, Hegseth stated that “the Commander-in-Chief and the American people alone will determine the destiny of our armed forces, not unelected tech executives.”

“Anthropic’s stance is fundamentally incompatible with American principles. Their relationship with the United States Armed Forces and the Federal Government has therefore been permanently altered,” he added.