As Anthropic's negotiations with the Pentagon were collapsing, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees he was trying to "save" his competitor, according to internal Slack messages seen by Axios.
- At the same time, Altman privately vented that Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had spent years trying to undermine him.
Why it matters: The messages reveal Altman's conflicted thinking as OpenAI swooped in to secure a Pentagon contract Anthropic had just lost — portraying himself as a peacemaker even as his company emerged as the primary beneficiary.
- The Slack messages, paraphrased below, trace Altman's thinking from Feb. 24 through March 2 as the dispute escalated into one of the most dramatic confrontations yet between the AI industry and the federal government.
Behind the scenes: The standoff had been public for 10 days — Axios first reported Feb. 14 that the Pentagon was weighing cutting ties with Anthropic — when Altman chimed into a Slack channel with employees who were anxious about the escalation on Feb. 24.
- Altman wrote that it might be a good time to work out a deal for classified use of OpenAI's systems with Defense Under Secretary Emil Michael, who was leading the negotiations.
- Michael ended up calling Altman first later that afternoon, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions. The two sides began exchanging draft contract language the next day.
On Feb. 26, Altman sent an all-staff message saying OpenAI shared Anthropic's red lines and wanted to help de-escalate — while making clear he still hoped to strike his own deal with the Pentagon.
- He acknowledged that the optics may not look good in the short term, but stressed the nuance of the situation and said he was committed to acting on principle rather than appearances.
On Feb. 27, Altman relayed to a core group of staff that negotiations between the Pentagon and Anthropic had taken a turn for the worse due to the perception that Amodei was playing to the press.
- Later that day, as the Pentagon's 5pm deadline approached, Altman told the group that the Pentagon believed it could offer Anthropic an off-ramp from the supply chain risk designation.
- Altman remarked that he found it strange to be working so hard to "save" a rival whose CEO had, in his view, spent years trying to destroy OpenAI.
- That night, Altman announced to all staff that OpenAI had reached a deal with the Pentagon, and said he was asking the government to extend the same terms to other AI companies to de-escalate.
Between the lines: When the dust settled, OpenAI had secured a Pentagon deal but arguably lost a public relations fight due to the perception Altman had capitalized on Amodei's principled stand.
- The messages suggest Altman believed — or at least told employees — that he was acting in good faith to help his rival and resolve a dispute that has major implications for the entire AI industry.
- Many on the Anthropic side have a less charitable view of Altman's motives — including Amodei, who called Altman's peacemaker framing "straight up lies" in a leaked memo. He later apologized.
What we're watching: Anthropic is still being used by the Pentagon and a deal remains possible — but a March 2 Slack message shows Altman acknowledging a critical obstacle he hadn't anticipated.
- OpenAI's contract included a carve-out requiring the Pentagon to negotiate a separate agreement before deploying ChatGPT in intelligence agencies like the NSA.
- The Pentagon confirmed it was offering OpenAI's deal to other companies, but would not give Anthropic the ability to opt out of working with intelligence agencies.
The reason: Claude is already so embedded across those agencies that the carve-out OpenAI had secured could not be offered to Anthropic, Altman told employees. He lamented that he hadn't thought of that ahead of time.
