OpenAI has signed a deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to sell its AI products to the U.S. government for both classified and unclassified work. AWS confirmed the agreement. This partnership follows OpenAI’s recent deal with the Pentagon to allow military use of its AI models on classified networks.
This development occurs alongside a conflict between the Defense Department and another AI company, Anthropic. The DOD designated Anthropic as a supply chain risk after the firm refused to allow its technology to be used for mass surveillance of Americans or to power fully autonomous weapons. Anthropic has sued the Pentagon in response to that designation.
OpenAI’s AWS deal positions the company directly into Anthropic’s established territory. Amazon has invested billions in Anthropic, which uses AWS as its primary cloud provider. Anthropic’s Claude models are deeply integrated into Amazon Bedrock, AWS’s AI platform for enterprise and government clients, and are widely available in AWS GovCloud for public sector use.
The new tie-up helps OpenAI support the Pentagon through its recent contract and expands the firm’s federal footprint by positioning it to serve multiple government agencies through AWS’s existing cloud infrastructure. As a major cloud provider to U.S. agencies, AWS has agreed to distribute OpenAI products across its public-sector customer base. This includes making them available in government cloud environments like AWS GovCloud and AWS Classified Regions for Secret and Top Secret workloads.
An OpenAI spokesperson stated that while its models will be available through AWS, the company will retain control over its technology by deciding which models are offered. AWS must also provide notice before enabling access for especially sensitive government agencies, including intelligence customers. OpenAI will coordinate directly with customers on deployment terms, security requirements, and operating conditions, and it can require additional safeguards for specific deployments.
This agreement could unlock more enterprise contracts for OpenAI, as government contracts are often seen as a stamp of trust and reliability.
This article has been updated to include comment and more information from OpenAI and AWS.