Top AI Companies Agree to Pentagon Deals for Classified Work

Some excerpts:

> The department said Friday it is now capable of using in classified settings the technology and models from the ChatGPT maker, OpenAI; Alphabet’s Google; Elon Musk’s SpaceX; Microsoft; Amazon; Nvidia; and a startup, Reflection AI. SpaceX owns Musk’s AI company, xAI.

> The deals show how much of Silicon Valley is agreeing to the Defense Department’s terms in a way that Anthropic didn’t when it rejected the Pentagon’s contract earlier this year in what spiraled into a monthslong feud... Anthropic is fighting the administration’s ban on use of its software for defense work in two separate legal cases.

> Many of the companies with newly completed agreements have said their Defense Department deals include commitments that their tools wouldn’t be used for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons. The Pentagon has said that it wouldn’t carry out those illegal activities and that companies should trust the military to use AI responsibly.