OpenAI CEO Sam Altman met with a handful of lawmakers in Washington, D.C. where Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said he raised some “serious questions” about the company’s approach to warfare and its recent deal with the Department of Defense.
In an interview with CNBC’s Emily Wilkins, Kelly said the group talked “in detail” about surveillance and how artificial intelligence systems could be used within a kill chain. He called it a “good discussion.”
“There’s got to be guardrails in place, and we’ve got to make sure that we’re always thinking about the Constitution and making sure that we comply with it,” Kelly said.
OpenAI formed a deal with the DOD late last month just hours after rival Anthropic had been blacklisted by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who declared the company a “Supply-Chain Risk to National Security.”
Anthropic had been trying to renegotiate its contract with the DOD, but the talks stalled over a disagreement about how the technology could be used. The DOD wanted Anthropic to grant the military unfettered access to its models for all lawful purposes, while Anthropic sought assurance that its models would not be used for fully autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance.
