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(NEW YORK) — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees at an all-hands meeting that the company doesn’t “get to make operational decisions” about how its artificial intelligence technology is used by the Pentagon, according to a source familiar with the meeting.

“So maybe you think the Iran strike was good and the Venezuela invasion was bad,” Altman said in Tuesday’s meeting, according to the source. “You don’t get to weigh in on that.”

The comments came days after OpenAI announced they had reached an agreement with the Pentagon to deploy their models on their classified network, hours after the deal between Anthropic and the Pentagon fell apart.

OpenAI is best known as the company behind generative AI chatbot ChatGPT, while Anthropic is responsible for the chatbot Claude.

At the center of the fight between Anthropic and the Department of Defense is the question of who gets to control how AI is used by the military: the companies that make the technology or the government that deploys it?

Anthropic was the first AI company to be used on classified networks and its technology is widely considered the most advanced. The talks fell apart over Anthropic’s red lines: they were against their models being used for fully autonomous weapons or mass surveillance of Americans. The Pentagon argued they needed its technology for all lawful use cases.

The department, which was informally renamed as the Department of War via executive order last year, addressed the red lines in a social media post last week.

“The Department of War has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans (which is illegal) nor do we want to use AI to develop autonomous weapons that operate without human involvement,” spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote. “Here’s what we’re asking: Allow the Pentagon to use Anthropic’s model for all lawful purposes. This is a simple, common-sense request that will prevent Anthropic from jeopardizing critical military operations and potentially putting our warfighters at risk.”  

The Pentagon set a deadline of 5 p.m. last Friday for Anthropic to acquiesce to its demands or be essentially blacklisted. With negotiations at an impasse, Trump ordered the government to stop using the company’s products and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared Anthropic would be designated a “supply chain risk”, essentially cutting the American company off from government work.

According to a source, Anthropic still has not received a notification from the government about being designated a supply chain risk, outside of Hegseth’s tweet announcing it.

The breakdown in talks came hours before the U.S. launched strikes in Iran. According to multiple reports, Anthropic’s AI models were used for the U.S. operation in Iran.  

Anthropic is not commenting on those reports. In response, a Pentagon spokesperson tells ABC: “The Department declines to comment citing operational security.”

When OpenAI announced its deal with the Pentagon, Altman said it shared the same red lines as Anthropic.

“Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems,” he said in a statement. “The DoW agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement.”

Days later, amid an onslaught of criticism, Altman said in a post this week that the company “shouldn’t have rushed” its deal with the Pentagon, saying that “it just looked opportunistic and sloppy.”

Altman unveiled an adjusted agreement with the Pentagon that he says provides stronger guarantees that the military won’t use OpenAI’s systems for domestic surveillance.

“We are going to amend our deal to add this language, in addition to everything else: ‘Consistent 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,'” he wrote in a statement.

“There are many things the technology just isn’t ready for, and many areas we don’t yet understand the tradeoffs required for safety. We will work through these, slowly, with the DoW, with technical safeguards and other methods,” he added.

OpenAI says they believe their contract has even “better guarantees” than what Anthropic had originally signed with the Pentagon.

“This language makes explicit that our tools will not be used to conduct domestic surveillance of U.S. persons, including through the procurement or use of commercially acquired personal or identifiable information,” the company wrote in a statement. “The Department also affirmed that our services will not be used by Department of War intelligence agencies like the NSA. Any services to those agencies would require a new agreement.”

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(WASHINGTON) — A Democratic senator says Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem provided false testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In her appearance before the committee on Tuesday, Noem was asked by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., whether her adviser Corey Lewandowski, who is serving as a special government employee, has any role in approving DHS contracts, and she said no.

“Evidence suggests that your testimony was false. Internal DHS records show that Mr. Lewandowski has personally approved contracts at DHS, including, but not limited to, a multimillion-dollar contract,” according to a letter Blumenthal sent to Noem on Wednesday. “And current and former DHS employees have stated that Mr. Lewandowski’s signature is a green light for money to be transmitted to contractors.”

Blumenthal sent the letter on Wednesday night, after Noem’s testimony in front the House Committee. 

In a follow-up appearance before a House committee on Wednesday, Rep. Jared Moskowitz asked Noem if she would like to correct her answer from Tuesday.

“What I would say is that he is an adviser to the Department of Homeland Security,” she said.

Sources have told ABC News that Lewandowski is Noem’s de facto chief of staff, despite having a 130-day cap on being able to work at the department, due to his status as a special government employee.

According to multiple sources, Lewandowski and Noem both approve contracts and “nothing” gets to the secretary without Lewandowski’s approval.

“Mr. Lewandowski is a Special Government Employee,” a department spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. “Mr. Lewandowski’s time is kept by a career DHS employee who submits the paperwork on a bi-weekly basis. He has completed all of the required Office of Government Ethics forms, including full financial disclosure and any investments by his family. Mr. Lewandowski does not receive a salary or any federal government benefits. He volunteers his time to serve the American people. He serves as an advisor. The Secretary, like all previous Secretaries, has various senior advisors.”

Oftentimes, Lewandowski travels with the secretary to her public events, and on multiple occasions ABC News has seen Lewandowski behind the scenes at events where the secretary is speaking.

Asked by two Democratic representatives if the two were romantically linked, Noem did not deny it and instead called the two Democratic members’ line of questioning “garbage.”

Lewandowski and Noem have both previously denied any romantic relationship. Both are married to other people. 

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(WASHINGTON) — As lawmakers debate the legal basis of President Donald Trump’s decision to launch strikes against Iran, the House is primed to vote on a war powers resolution Thursday afternoon that attempts to curtail military action.

The resolution, which only expresses the sentiment of Congress, calls on the president to terminate the use of U.S. armed forces in hostilities against Iran or any part of the Iranian government or military unless a declaration of war or authorization to use military force is enacted.

It comes after recent U.S. strikes on Iran that killed several Iranian leaders, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran.

The measure is non-binding and not subject to the president’s signature or veto.

Nevertheless, passage remains an open question in the closely divided House and could depend on attendance Thursday.

Speaker Mike Johnson argued Wednesday that the United States is “not at war” but only engaged in a “defensive operation” in Iran. 

“We’re not at war right now,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol. “We’re in — four days into a very specific, clear mission and operation.”

Later on Wednesday, Trump contradicted Johnson, repeatedly referring to the conflict in Iran as a “war” hours after Johnson said it wasn’t.

Sitting next to Johnson during a roundtable on energy prices, Trump said “we’re doing very well on — on the war front, to put it mildly.”

Johnson also expressed confidence that Republicans will defeat the resolution, despite some reservations voiced by a couple of conservatives.

“I think passage of a war powers resolution right now would be a terrible, dangerous idea,” Johnson said. “It would empower our enemies. It would kneecap our own forces, and it would take the ability of the U.S. military and the commander in chief away from completing this critical mission to keep everybody safe.”

The resolution’s prospects for passage rests largely on turnout in the House where Republicans hold a slim majority. Nine lawmakers missed votes on Wednesday, including four Republicans and five Democrats — enough truancy to sway the vote on Thursday.

The measure was debated on the House floor on Wednesday, though a vote was postponed until Thursday.

“We have lost our way,” Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, the bill’s Democratic sponsor, said during debate. “Let us declare with courage and clarity that we reject this illegal and unjust war in Iran. Let us choose moral renewal over further moral decay.”

At least two Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie, the bill’s Republican sponsor, and Warren Davidson — have announced they will vote in favor of the measure, though a handful of moderate Democrats are expected to offset those defections by opposing the resolution themselves. 

On Wednesday, Senate Democrats failed to meet a 51-vote threshold on an alternate Iran war powers resolution sponsored by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine and Republican Sen. Rand Paul. The resolution failed behind a 47-53 tally. 

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