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OpenAI\u2019s Sam Altman said the company will amend its deal with the Defense Department<\/a> (or the Department of War) to explicitly prohibit the use of its AI system on mass surveillance against Americans. Altman has published<\/a> an internal memo previously sent to employees on X, telling them that the company will tweak the agreement to add language to make that point especially clear. Specifically, it says:<\/p>\n \u201cConsistent with applicable laws, including the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, National Security Act of 1947, FISA Act of 1978, the AI system shall not be intentionally used for domestic surveillance of U.S. persons and nationals.<\/p>\n For the avoidance of doubt, the Department understands this limitation to prohibit deliberate tracking, surveillance, or monitoring of U.S. persons or nationals, including through the procurement or use of commercially acquired personal or identifiable information.\u201d<\/p>\n Altman has also claimed in the memo that the agency affirmed that its services will not be used by its intelligence agencies, including the NSA, without a modification to their contract. He added that if he received what he believed was an unconstitutional order, he would rather go to jail than follow it.<\/p>\n In addition, the OpenAI CEO has admitted in the memo that the company shouldn\u2019t have rushed to get the deal out on Friday, February 27, since the issues were \u201csuper complex and demand clear communication.\u201d Altman explained that the company was \u201ctrying to de-escalate things and avoid a much worse outcome\u201d but it \u201clooked opportunistic\u201d in the end. If you\u2019ll recall, OpenAI announced the partnership shortly after President Trump ordered<\/a> all US government agencies to stop using Claude and any other Anthropic services. To note, Anthropic started working with the US government in 2024.<\/p>\n The Defense Department and Secretary Pete Hegseth had been pressuring Anthropic with to remove its AI\u2019s guardrails so that it can be used for all \u201clawful\u201d purposes. Those include mass surveillance and the development of fully autonomous weapons. Anthropic refused<\/a> to bow down to Hegseth\u2019s demands and in a statement said that \u201cno amount of intimidation or punishment\u201d will change its \u201cposition on mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.\u201d Trump issued the order as a result. The Defense Department had also taken the first steps to designate Anthropic as a \u201csupply chain risk,\u201d which is typically reserved for Chinese companies believed to be working with their country\u2019s government.<\/p>\n Altman said that in his conversations with US officials, he reiterated that Anthropic shouldn\u2019t be designated as a supply chain risk and that he hoped the Defense Department would offer it the same deal OpenAI agreed to. In an AMA session on X over the weekend, Altman clarified that he didn\u2019t know the details of Anthropic\u2019s agreement and how it differed from the one OpenAI signed. But if it had been the same, he thought Anthropic should have agreed to it.<\/p>\n After the news broke out about OpenAI\u2019s deal, Anthropic climbed its way<\/a> to the number one spot of the App Store’s Top Free Apps leaderboard, beating out both ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Anthropic<\/a>, capitalizing on Claude\u2019s sudden popularity, launched<\/a> a memory import tool to make switching to its chatbot from another company\u2019s easier. Meanwhile, uninstalls for ChatGPT\u2019s jumped<\/a> by 295 percent day-over-day, according to Sensor Tower.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n