Pentagon Urges AI Firms to Deploy Tools on Classified Networks

The United States Department of Defense is urging leading artificial intelligence companies to deploy their advanced tools on classified military networks and remove standard user restrictions. At a White House event on February 10, 2026, Pentagon Chief Technology Officer Emil Michael informed executives that the military intends to make AI models available across all classification levels to synthesize information for decision-making, mission planning, and weapons targeting.

OpenAI has reached an agreement to provide tools, including ChatGPT, on the unclassified genai.mil network for more than three million employees, but the company maintains that expansion to classified systems requires a separate agreement. Alphabet Inc.'s Google and xAI have also signed agreements for unclassified use. Anthropic's products are currently the only major AI tools available in classified settings through third parties, although the company has expressed opposition to the use of its technology for domestic surveillance or autonomous weapons targeting.

These developments occur as President Donald Trump has ordered the Department of Defense to be renamed the Department of War, a change that remains pending congressional action.