Pentagon Signs Classified AI Deals with Seven Tech Giants, Excludes Anthropic Over Safety Dispute

The U.S. Department of Defense signed agreements on May 1, 2026 with SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, NVIDIA, Microsoft, AWS, Reflection, and Oracle to deploy their AI models on classified Impact Level 6 and 7 networks — the largest formal integration of commercial AI into secure military systems. Anthropic was notably excluded and designated a 'supply-chain risk' after refusing to remove safety guardrails restricting military use of Claude, including for autonomous weapons and mass surveillance. Anthropic sued the government and a federal judge in California has blocked the designation. Until recently, Claude was the only AI model available on the Pentagon's classified network. The GenAI.mil platform already serves 1.3 million DoD personnel. CEO Dario Amodei met with senior White House officials earlier in April for what both sides called productive discussions, suggesting a potential path toward resolution.