It’s unclear what they are building together.
The Department (DoD)’s daily list of newly awarded contracts revealed the deal on Monday. The document mentions a possible award of up $200 million for OpenAI. According to the brief details of the document, the AI startup will receive $2 million immediately and more to follow. The DoD alert states
“Under this award, the performer will develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains,” .
OpenAI announced a deal with DoD in a post which announced the launch of an initiative called “OpenAI for Government”. The program’s name suggests that it will bring OpenAI technology to Washington. The post also mentions that the defense deal will “prototype how frontier AI can transform [the DOD’s] administrative options.” The Post mentions outcomes like helping service members to get health care, and aiding in cyber defense. OpenAI’s post is devoid of the word “warfighting” which is conspicuously missing. It notes that OpenAI’s policies prohibit “develop or use weapons.” using OpenAI Technology to”develop or use weapons.”In its past policies, OpenAI banned “military and warfare” apps entirely. But last January, it changed their wording to: “Don’t Use Our Service to Harm Yourself or Others.”
There’s no information on whether the same legalese is used by government users. OpenAI has been asked to clarify the matter. We’ve asked OpenAI to clarify. For now, we think that cyber defense is useful but not a weapon. UK CyberEM Command will spearhead a new era of warfare
This contract comes only days after OpenAI Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil, and former OpenAI chief revenue officer Bob McGrew, were sworn in as lieutenant-colonels to the US Army Reserve . The CTOs from Palantir and Meta also joined the newly formed Executive Innovation Corps which advises the Pentagon on bringing AI into the military. OpenAI
has worked on military contracts before with Andurilthe defense contractor established by Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, after he had been firedfrom Meta – then Facebook — reportedly because of his political views. Meta and Anduril, incidentally, reunited last month for a new military tie-up . The companies will try to create augmented reality technology for soldiers, after Microsoftgave up on a similar project. (r)
