Sam Altman responds to the U.S. Department of Defense choosing OpenAI over Anthropic: differences in operational control demands

Odaily Planet Daily reports that OpenAI founder Sam Altman posted an AMA on X platform in response to recent cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense. He revealed that Anthropic and the U.S. Department of Defense were once “very close to reaching an agreement,” and that during most of the negotiations, both sides were strongly motivated to cooperate. However, in a highly tense negotiation environment, the situation could have quickly deteriorated, which may be one of the key reasons the deal ultimately did not materialize. Regarding safety philosophy, OpenAI adopts a “layered approach,” including building a security technology stack, deploying frontier deployment engineers (FDE), involving security researchers in projects, and delivering via cloud deployment directly in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense. Compared to setting specific prohibitive clauses in contracts, Anthropic seems to focus more on clear restrictions at the contractual level, while OpenAI prefers to rely on applicable legal frameworks and core security measures based on technical safeguards. However, other companies may hold different views; Anthropic might seek more operational control in the partnership, which could also be a reason for the divergence in their paths.