OpenAI is deepening its ties to the defense industry

The defense technology company announced a strategic partnership with the ChatGPT maker on Wednesday to improve the ability of its counter-unmanned aircraft systems (CUAS) “to detect, assess and respond to potentially lethal aerial threats in real-time.”

Both companies will look into how OpenAI’s leading-edge AI models, such as GPT-4o and OpenAI o1, can be used “to rapidly synthesize time-sensitive data, reduce the burden on human operators, and improve situational awareness.” Through the partnership, the defense company said OpenAI’s models will be trained on Anduril’s anti-drone systems’ threats and operations data.

“OpenAI builds AI to benefit as many people as possible, and supports U.S.-led efforts to ensure the technology upholds democratic values,” OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said in a statement. “Our partnership with Anduril will help ensure OpenAI technology protects U.S. military personnel, and will help the national security community understand and responsibly use this technology to keep our citizens safe and free.”

Until January, OpenAI’s usage policies said it did not allow usage of its models for “[a]ctivity that has high risk of physical harm” such as “military and warfare.” The updated usage policies do not mention military or warfare, but still say users should not use its “service to harm yourself or others,” including by developing or using weapons.

In November, FedScoop reported that OpenAI and the Air Force Research Laboratory were partnering to provide limited ChatGPT Enterprise for its research and development work. The same month, OpenAI rival Anthropic and data analytics software platform Palantir $PLTR (PLTR) announced a partnership with Amazon $AMZN Web Services (AMZN) to offer the AI startup’s Claude AI models to U.S. intelligence and defense agencies.