In February 2026, OpenAI signed a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to deploy its AI models in classified military environments. The deal — worth up to $200 million — covers uses like military healthcare, program data analysis, and cyber defense. It came days after the Pentagon blacklisted rival Anthropic for refusing to drop restrictions on domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons use.

OpenAI announced the deal on February 27, 2026, framing it around three stated "red lines": no use for mass domestic surveillance, no use to direct autonomous weapons systems, and no use for high-stakes automated decisions without human oversight. The contract is structured so that OpenAI retains control over its safety stack, deploys via cloud with cleared OpenAI personnel involved, and excludes NSA access absent a separate agreement. However, the full contract text has not been made public, and legal experts, civil liberties organizations including the EFF, and some OpenAI employees publicly questioned whether the contract language contained meaningful loopholes. CEO Sam Altman later admitted the deal was "rushed" and amended the contract on March 2, 2026 to add clearer anti-surveillance language — though critics said unresolved ambiguities remained.