US Defense Department Partners with 7 AI Giants: What This Means for Military Technology in 2026

Translation result The U.S. Department of Defense said on May 1 it has signed classified-work agreements with seven leading AI service providers — SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, NVIDIA, Reflection, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services. Anthropic, which bars the use of its technology for domestic surveillance or fully autonomous lethal weapons, was excluded.

The DoD said the agreements will allow the department to bring those companies’ advanced AI capabilities onto its classified networks for lawful operational use. The Pentagon added the deals will accelerate the military’s transition to an AI-first fighting force and bolster warfighters’ decision-making advantage across all domains.

Analysts say the outreach reflects concern that Anthropic’s Claude has been effectively the only AI model approved for use on U.S. military classified systems, and that Anthropic’s refusal to permit its models for mass surveillance of Americans or for fully autonomous weapons has produced a standoff with the Pentagon. The DoD emphasized it will continue building architectures that avoid vendor lock-in and ensure long-term flexibility for joint forces.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing the previous day, blasted Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei as an “ideological lunatic.”

The New York Times reported the companies that signed the agreements agreed to allow the DoD to use their technologies for “all lawful purposes.” DoD officials told the NYT they expect the deals to put pressure on Anthropic to reconsider its stance.

Since releasing Mitos last month — an AI model Anthropic says detects software vulnerabilities at an expert level — the company has continued talks with the U.S. government despite ongoing litigation. Some government agencies reportedly already have access to Mitos. On April 17, CEO Dario Amodei visited the White House and met with Chief of Staff Suzie Wiles and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.