People walk near a sign outside Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California.
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The day after Anthropic sued the Trump administration for designating an artificial intelligence company as a supply chain risk. google is deepening its relationship with the Department of Defense and expanding the role of the Gemini AI model within the military bureaucracy.
Google announced Tuesday that it is introducing features on GenAI.mil, the Department of Defense’s enterprise AI portal, that will allow civilians and military personnel to build custom AI agents for unclassified tasks. More than 3 million Department of Defense employees will now be able to create their own digital assistants for repetitive administrative tasks using a no-code or low-code tool called Agent Designer.
Google says these agents can help with tasks like drafting meeting notes, creating action items, and breaking down large projects into step-by-step plans. Initially, it will operate on unclassified networks, but discussions have reportedly already begun about expanding it to classified and top-secret environments.
Emile Michael, the Pentagon’s chief technology officer, told Bloomberg that he has “high confidence” that Google will be “a great partner in any network.” Michael also told Bloomberg that the Pentagon has “moved on” from its dispute with Anthropic and that the matter will not be resolved through the courts.
On Thursday, Anthropic confirmed it had been formally designated as a supply chain risk, an unusual measure that has historically been reserved for foreign adversaries. Anthropic argued in a legal complaint Monday that the government’s actions are “unprecedented and illegal” and have “caused irreparable harm to Anthropic.” Anthropic was launched after the Pentagon refused to allow its technology to be used for autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance.
Until recently, Anthropic was the only AI provider operating within the Department of Defense’s classified cloud. But at the same time as the Pentagon expanded its collaboration with Google, it added OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI to its restricted network.
The development also comes amid heightened tensions within the technology industry over the military’s use of AI.
Google AI head Jeff Dean, along with dozens of other OpenAI and Google employees, signed a court brief supporting Anthropic in its legal battle with the Department of Defense. Dean previously expressed sympathy for some internal concerns about military AI and surveillance after employees circulated a letter calling for clearer limits on how employers and the military collaborate.
WATCH: Anthropic sues Trump administration over Pentagon blacklist
