Pentagon Weighs $100M Drone Contract Between Musk's xAI and OpenAI as Anthropic Faces Military Blacklist Over Safety Restrictions

Feb 17, 2026
The Deep View
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Summary

Pentagon weighs $100 million contract between Musk's xAI and OpenAI for voice-powered autonomous drone swarms while threatening to blacklist Anthropic as a 'supply chain risk' after the company refuses to relax safety restrictions on its Claude chatbot for military applications.

Key Points

  • Elon Musk's xAI and OpenAI compete for a secretive $100 million Pentagon contract to develop voice-powered autonomous drone swarms
  • The Pentagon considers cutting ties with Anthropic after the company refuses to relax safety restrictions on its Claude chatbot for military use
  • Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly considers designating Anthropic a 'supply chain risk' as tensions escalate over the company's stance on autonomous weaponry and citizen surveillance

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