OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks at the AI Impact Summit gathering in New Delhi, India on February 19, 2026.
Barwika Chhabra | Reuters
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Monday that the company “should not have rushed” its recent agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense and said it intends to make some amendments to the agreement.
This came after the ChatGPT maker announced a new deal with the Pentagon on Friday, just hours after the White House directed federal agencies to stop using tools from rival AI company Anthropic, and hours before the US government carried out its attack on Iran.
In a post on X, Altman said OpenAI plans to amend the contract to include new language, including that “AI systems may not be intentionally used for domestic surveillance of U.S. persons and nationals.”
He added that the Department of Defense has assured that OpenAI’s tools will not be used by intelligence agencies such as the NSA.
“There are still a lot of things that technology doesn’t address yet, and there are still a lot of areas where we don’t understand the trade-offs that need to be made for safety,” Altman said, adding that the company will work with the Department of Defense on technical safety measures.
The CEO also admitted he made a mistake and said he “should not have rushed” to close the deal on Friday.
“We were really trying to de-escalate the situation and avoid a worse outcome, but I think it just looked opportunistic and sloppy,” he said.
The approval comes after a public feud between Anthropic and Washington over safeguards for the Claude AI system. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also said the company would be designated as a supply chain threat.
Anthropic wanted assurances that its tools would not be used for purposes such as surveillance within the United States or the operation or development of autonomous weapons without human control.
The controversy began in January after it was revealed that the U.S. military had used Anthropic’s Claude in a raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, although the company did not publicly object to its use.
OpenAI’s deal with the Department of Defense was signed shortly after Anthropic’s talks with the Department of Defense broke down, sparking a public backlash online, with many users reportedly ditching ChatGPT in app stores for Claude.
Altman further addressed the controversy in his post, saying, “During our conversations this past weekend, I reiterated that Anthropic should not be designated as a (supply chain risk) and that I hope (the Department of Defense) offers them the same terms that we agreed to.”
