OpenAI is considering a contract to deploy its artificial intelligence technology on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) “unclassified” networks, according to a Reuters report citing people familiar with the matter. The potential agreement comes just days after the company struck a separate deal with the Pentagon.
According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman initially said during a company meeting that the firm was looking to deploy its technology across all NATO classified networks. A company spokeswoman later clarified to the Journal that Altman misspoke and that the contract opportunity involves NATO’s “unclassified networks.”
READ: Reports claim US military used Anthropic’s Claude in Iran strikes despite Trump’s ban (
The reported NATO discussions follow last week’s announcement that OpenAI would deploy its technology within the Pentagon’s classified network. That agreement came after U.S. President Donald Trump directed the government to stop working with rival Anthropic.
The split between the Pentagon and Anthropic reportedly stemmed from disagreements over the acceptable use of the firm’s AI systems. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has emphasized the company’s opposition to the Pentagon using its AI models for mass domestic surveillance or to power fully autonomous weapons. The Pentagon has previously said it has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans or to develop weapons that operate without human involvement, but that it wants any lawful use of AI to remain permissible.
Despite Trump’s decision to halt work with Anthropic, reports claim that the U.S. used the firm’s AI model, Claude, during its strikes on Iran. According to The Wall Street Journal, military command used the tools for intelligence purposes, as well as to help select targets and conduct battlefield simulations.
Amid scrutiny over its own defense ties, OpenAI updated its public position. The company said its AI systems “shall not be intentionally used for domestic surveillance of U.S. persons and nationals,” adding that the Pentagon also affirmed that AI services would not be used by intelligence agencies such as the National Security Agency (NSA).
READ: AI, war in Iran, and the sovereignty struggle over autonomous technology (
“I think this was an example of a complex, but right decision with extremely difficult brand consequences and very negative PR for us in the short term,” Altman said in a company meeting on Tuesday, referring to the Pentagon deal, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Pentagon agreement has drawn significant backlash. According to data cited by TechCrunch, uninstalls of the ChatGPT mobile app surged 295 percent on Saturday compared with the previous day, based on figures from market intelligence provider Sensor Tower. TechCrunch noted that the spike far exceeds the chatbot’s typical day-over-day uninstall rate of about nine percent over the past 30 days.