Anthropic's CEO, Dario Amodei, has expressed strong disapproval, reportedly calling OpenAI's recent engagement with the Department of Defense "safety theater" in an internal memo to staff, as revealed by The Information. This sentiment appears to be directed at OpenAI chief Sam Altman.
Amodei explicitly stated, “The main reason [OpenAI] accepted [the DoD’s deal] and we did not is that they cared about placating employees, and we actually cared about preventing abuses.”
This dispute follows the recent breakdown in negotiations between Anthropic and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The military sought unrestricted access to Anthropic's AI technology, but Anthropic, despite holding an existing $200 million contract, insisted on assurances that its AI would not be deployed for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry.
Subsequently, the DoD, which was controversially referred to as the "Department of War" during the Trump administration, proceeded to finalize an agreement with OpenAI. Sam Altman publicly affirmed that OpenAI's new defense contract incorporated safeguards addressing the identical "red lines" that Anthropic had previously outlined.
In his communication to staff, Amodei escalated his criticism, labeling OpenAI's public statements as “straight up lies” and alleging that Altman was falsely “presenting himself as a peacemaker and dealmaker.”
Amodei's concerns appear to stem from more than just rivalry. Anthropic specifically took issue with the DoD's demand for its AI to be available for “any lawful use.” In contrast, OpenAI, via a blog post, stated that its contract permits the use of its AI systems for “all lawful purposes.”
OpenAI's blog post elaborated, stating, “It was clear in our interaction that the DoW considers mass domestic surveillance illegal and was not planning to use it for this purpose.” The post further claimed, “We ensured that the fact that it is not covered under lawful use was made explicit in our contract.”
However, critics have swiftly highlighted that legal frameworks are dynamic; what is deemed unlawful today could potentially become permissible in the future.
Public sentiment appears to align with Anthropic's stance, evidenced by a significant 295% surge in ChatGPT uninstalls following OpenAI's agreement with the DoD.
Amodei concluded his memo with a sharp assessment of the situation: “I think this attempted spin/gaslighting is not working very well on the general public or the media, where people mostly see OpenAI’s deal with the DoW as sketchy or suspicious, and see us as the heroes (we’re #2 in the App Store now!).” He dismissed the impact on "some Twitter morons, which doesn’t matter," but expressed his primary concern: “my main worry is how to make sure it doesn’t work on OpenAI employees.”
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