Openai’s $200 million DOD deal could narrow down Frenemy Microsoft

Open said Monday The US Department of Defense has granted contracts of up to $200 million to help identify and build prototype systems that use frontier models for management tasks and more.

Openai offers several examples of possible tasks, such as helping service members get health care, streamlining data for various programs, and “supporting aggressive cyber defense.” The company also said, “All use cases must match Openai’s usage policy and guidelines.”

Dodd’s announcement I use a little simple language. “Under this award, performers will develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address key national security challenges in both the combat and enterprise domains.”

It is not yet seen whether references to war warfare apply to the weapons themselves or to other areas related to war, such as documents. Openai guidelines prohibit individual users from developing or using weapons using ChatGPT or its API. However, Openai has removed the explicit ban on “military and war” in its terms of use. January 2024.

Given how strong a number of powerful people in Silicon Valley are warning about the dangers of China’s advanced LLM models, it’s no surprise that DOD wants to use Openai for any purpose. For example, Marc Andreessen, co-founder of VC company Andreessen Horowitz, an investor at Openai, recently appeared on Jack Altman’s “Uncapped” podcast (smiths of Sam Altman). Andreessen explained the competition with China’s AI A model for the Western world as a “Cold War.”

Still, perhaps an equally interesting part of this announcement is what it says about Openai Major investors: Relations with Microsoft are becoming increasingly tense.

Microsoft There are thousands of contracts The federal government is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. For decades, we have implemented the strict security protocols necessary for governments, especially DOD, to use the cloud.

Openai announced the deal as part of a broader new “Openai for Government” program that integrates many other programs used to sell directly to government agencies, including the U.S. National Laboratory, Air Force Research Institute, NASA, NIH, and the Treasury Department.

But it was only in April Microsoft announced DOD had approved all classified levels of Azure Openai services. Now the DOD is also direct to the source. From Microsoft’s perspective: It hurts.

Neither Openai nor Microsoft responded to requests for comment immediately.