OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees in an all-hands meeting on Tuesday that the company doesn’t “get to make operational decisions” regarding how its artificial intelligence technology is used by the Department of Defense.
“So maybe you think the Iran strike was good and the Venezuela invasion was bad,” Altman said Tuesday, according to a partial transcript of the meeting reviewed by CNBC. “You don’t get to weigh in on that.”
The meeting occurred four days after OpenAI announced its DoD arrangement, which landed just hours before the U.S. and Israel began carrying out strikes against Iran.
Altman told employees that the DoD respects OpenAI’s technical expertise, wants input about where its models are a good fit and will allow the company to build the safety stack it deems appropriate, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the meeting was was private.
But Altman said the agency has also made it clear that operational decisions rest with Secretary Pete Hegseth. Altman has been vocally criticized, including by some OpenAI employees, since announcing the deal with the Pentagon shortly after rival Anthropic was blacklisted and labeled a “Supply-Chain Risk to National Security.” President Donald Trump also directed every federal agency in the U.S. to “immediately cease” all use Anthropic’s technology.
