Pentagon says US military to be an 'AI-first' fighting force
48 minutes ago, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth called for increased AI use by the US military. The Pentagon has agreed to new and expanded contracts with major tech firms, including Google, OpenAI, Amazon, Microsoft, SpaceX, Oracle, Nvidia, and Reflection. These agreements allow AI technology to be used for any 'lawful operational use,' positioning the US military as an AI-first force. Anthropic, however, has refused to participate due to concerns over potential misuse in warfare and domestic surveillance, leading to legal challenges. The Pentagon aims to avoid vendor lock-in by partnering with diverse tech companies to provide warfighters with advanced AI tools. Over a million personnel across the defense department have already used the military’s AI platform, which has significantly streamlined tasks from months to days. Anthropic’s tools, including Claude, remain in use in government and defense agencies despite earlier tensions. OpenAI’s ChatGPT deal was formalized, while Google’s Gemini is now being used at classified levels. Google employees have expressed concerns about deepening collaboration with the government. SpaceX’s xAI, through its Grok AI, is also involved, though its capabilities are considered less advanced than competitors. Nvidia and Reflection will deploy their open-source models, Nemotron and Reflection 70B, respectively. Microsoft, AWS, and Oracle continue to provide cloud services for government work, now extended to include more AI models for military use.
Source: BBC