OpenAI has signed a new agreement to provide its AI models to the US defense and government sectors via Amazon’s cloud division for both classified and unclassified projects, the company announced on Tuesday.
This contract allows OpenAI to support the Pentagon following a deal reached late last month, after the agency moved away from its former provider, Anthropic.
Anthropic, which secured a Pentagon contract valued at up to $200 million in July 2025, previously served as a primary defense AI supplier. In collaboration with Palantir and Amazon Web Services (AWS), it deployed Claude models within classified military and intelligence frameworks. However, that partnership dissolved in February when Anthropic restricted military applications of its AI, specifically regarding autonomous weaponry and domestic surveillance. Consequently, the Pentagon designated the firm a “supply chain risk,” effectively halting its government projects.
While OpenAI previously focused on unclassified federal work, it has now secured the mandate for classified operations. Its AWS partnership highlights how defense contracts — facilitated by established cloud providers — have become a critical competitive arena. Success in the high-stakes public sector may also bolster OpenAI’s appeal to corporate clients as a benchmark for reliability.
Bloomberg reported that the Pentagon is currently developing alternatives to Anthropic’s tools. Cameron Stanley, the Pentagon’s chief digital and AI officer, noted that transitioning from Anthropic products used in US operations in Iran would take over a month, though efforts to integrate a new large-language model are underway.
“The Department is actively pursuing multiple LLMs into the appropriate government-owned environments,” Stanley said in an interview.
“Engineering work has begun on these LLMs and we expect to have them available for operational use very soon,” Stanley added.
Following its shift to a for-profit model last autumn, OpenAI revised its Microsoft agreement to permit partnerships with rival cloud firms for national security clients.
Recently, both OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI received approval for classified Pentagon work. It remains uncertain how rapidly these tools can be integrated into existing systems like Palantir’s Maven Smart System, currently utilized in the Iran campaign, reported. Bloomberg.
Until this shift, Anthropic was the only AI system functional within the Pentagon’s classified cloud, where its Claude tool had gained significant popularity for its user-friendly interface.
Emil Michael, the under secretary of defense for research and engineering, said Alphabet Inc.’s Google is introducing its Gemini AI agents across the Pentagon’s three million-strong workforce to automate routine tasks. The company will initially operate on unclassified networks and then move into classified work, according to Bloomberg.
Michael said in an interview hours after Anthropic filed its lawsuit that the military was moving on and that there was little chance to revive talks.
