After signing a deal with the Department of War, OpenAI tries to build trust by publishing the contract details. So far, it's not working.
A few days ago, President Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using Anthropic's technology after the company refused to budge on bans against US mass surveillance and autonomous weapons.
OpenAI picked up the deal within hours and says it's drawing the same red lines. But why the Pentagon accepted those restrictions from OpenAI and not from Anthropic is the question everyone is now trying to answer.
The backlash for OpenAI has been swift and measurable: users rallied behind Anthropic, pushing the Claude app to number 1 in the App Store ahead of ChatGPT. Feeling the pressure, OpenAI published a detailed blog post laying out the contract details and held an AMA on X with Sam Altman and other OpenAI employees.
"Any lawful use" leaves plenty of wiggle room
