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Most recent instance of department integrating with AI comes amid Anthropic standoff, concern over use in Iran war.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Washington, DC \u2013<\/strong> The United States Department of Defense has announced a new agreement with seven Artificial Intelligence companies to use their advanced technologies for its classified networks.<\/p>\n The announcement on Friday is the latest instance of closer integration between the Pentagon, which has been expanding its use of AI for about a decade.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n It comes amid wider scrutiny over involvement by companies with the US military, which has gained renewed attention amid a public fallout with the AI company Anthropic and questions over how AI has been used in the US-Israeli war with Iran.<\/p>\n In a statement, the Department of Defense said the new agreements with SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, NVIDIA, Reflection, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services \u201caccelerate the transformation towards establishing the United States military as an AI-first fighting force and will strengthen our warfighters\u2019 ability to maintain decision superiority across all domains of warfare\u201d.<\/p>\n It said the companies\u2019 capabilities would be used in its most secure information systems to \u201cstreamline data synthesis, elevate situational understanding and augment warfighter decision-making in complex operational environments\u201d.<\/p>\n Noticeably absent from the Pentagon\u2019s list was Anthropic, which had a major fallout with the Pentagon after pushing back on pressure to provide unrestricted access to its Claude AI programme for \u201call lawful use\u201d.<\/p>\n The appeal raised concerns over Claude\u2019s possible uses in government mass surveillance and autonomous weapons systems. The Pentagon, in turn, labelled the company a \u201csupply chain risk\u201d.<\/p>\n The two sides have since been locked in a protracted court battle, although there have been some signs of detente.<\/p>\n In particular, there has been an increasing desire from the administration to access Anthropic\u2019s powerful new Mythos AI model, which is seen as a potentially transformative tool in both cyber attacks and cyber defence.<\/p>\n The Pentagon\u2019s agreements with OpenAI and Google had previously been confirmed, as had a deal with Elon Musk\u2019s xAI. The three companies had agreed to the Pentagon\u2019s \u201call lawful use\u201d provision as part of those agreements.<\/p>\n In its statement, the Pentagon said that over 1.3 million department personnel use its official AI platform, GenAI.mil.<\/p>\n \u201cWarfighters, civilians and contractors are putting these capabilities to practical use right now, cutting many tasks from months to days,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n It vowed to continue building the department\u2019s AI architecture to avoid so-called \u201cvendor lock\u201d, a term for over-reliance on one vendor.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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