OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reacted to rival Anthropic getting banned by the US government and being labelled a ‘supply chain risk to national security’. Notably, the ChatGPT maker announced on the same day that Anthropic’s deal with the Pentagon fell apart, that it was partnering with the US government to deploy advanced AI systems in classified environments.
However, OpenAI, which has had a somewhat sour relationship with Anthropic, backed its rival against the US government’s supply chain risk designation, which is typically reserved for foreign adversarial companies like Huawei.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the ChatGPT maker said it had made its position on the matter clear to the Department of War. It wrote, “We do not think Anthropic should be designated as a supply chain risk and we’ve made our position on this clear to the Department of War.”
Sam Altman on Anthropic getting banned:
Meanwhile, Altman, who tried to pacify a lot of anger directed at OpenAI after the Pentagon deal, did an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on X (formerly Twitter), where he also touched on the question of Anthropic getting blacklisted by the US government and the kind of precedent it sets.
“Yes; I think it is an extremely scary precedent and I wish they handled it a different way. I don’t think Anthropic handled it well either, but as the more powerful party, I hold the government more responsible. I am still hopeful for a much better resolution.”
In reply to another post questioning the role of OpenAI in lobbying the Pentagon to stop using Anthropic technology, Altman wrote, “0%. I wish they still did. I would have had a better week!”
On the deal with the US government, Altman responded, “I believe that strong democracy, and a strong US in particular, is a very good thing for the world.”
“The 16-year-old me thought every country should just abolish their defense department at the same time. I wish he were right, but I now think the world is a much more fragile place,” he added.
Notably, since the deal with the US government was announced, OpenAI has seen mass cancellation warnings from its users, while there has been a public outpouring for Anthropic that has also been reflected in the latest Apple App Store rankings, where Claude has overtaken ChatGPT to become the number 1 free app.
Meanwhile, the rivalry between Anthropic and OpenAI is unlikely to cool down anytime soon after the recent events. Notably, Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei had refused to hold hands during their meet at the AI Impact Summit in Delhi last month, which had become a major talking point.
Moreover, Anthropic had also taken a shot at ChatGPT getting ads in an advertisement it published during the Super Bowl that saw a sharp public rebuke from Sam Altman. Amodei had also recently talked about the safety concerns that led him to quit his job at OpenAI and start his rival AI lab.
