The U.S. Defense Department has signed deals with tech giants like Nvidia and Microsoft to deploy advanced artificial intelligence on classified networks, aiming to enhance military capabilities.

These agreements follow a controversial dispute with Anthropic, where the Pentagon sought unrestricted use of AI models while the company insisted on safeguards against domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons.

The new partnerships will see AI hardware and models deployed in high-security environments, such as Impact Level 6 and 7, to streamline data synthesis and improve decision-making for warfighters. The move is part of a broader strategy to ensure long-term flexibility in accessing diverse AI capabilities.

Meanwhile, over 1.3 million DOD personnel have already accessed GenAI.mil, the secure enterprise platform providing access to large language models and other AI tools within approved cloud environments, primarily for non-classified tasks like research and data analysis.