Sam Altman Faces Lawmaker Questions Over OpenAI's Defense Work

Sam Altman met with a group of senators in Washington, D.C. this week and faced "serious questions" about OpenAI's defense contracts—just weeks after the company secured a deal with the Department of Defense hours after rival Anthropic was blacklisted.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., told CNBC he raised concerns about OpenAI's "approach to warfare" and discussed "in detail" surveillance and how AI systems could be used within a kill chain. Kelly called it a "good discussion" but emphasized guardrails are needed.

"There's got to be guardrails in place, and we've got to make sure that we're always thinking about the Constitution and making sure that we comply with it," Kelly said.

The timing was notable: OpenAI's DOD deal came just hours after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared Anthropic a "Supply-Chain Risk to National Security," effectively banning the company from defense contracts. Anthropic had been trying to renegotiate its DOD contract but talks stalled over disagreements about how its models could be used—the DOD wanted unfettered access, while Anthropic sought assurance its AI wouldn't be used for autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance.

Altman has publicly staked out different ground. In a post on X, he called prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for autonomous weapons "two of our most important safety principles." OpenAI published an excerpt of its DOD contract, which says the agency "may use the AI System for all lawful purposes." The company says it's confident the DOD won't use its AI for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons due to OpenAI's safety stack, contract language, and existing laws.

"We think it's very important to support the United States government and the democratic process," Altman told CNBC.

Kelly said he's working with other senators to draft legislation setting guardrails around DOD AI contracts. "We need to have legislation on this that creates some of these boundaries, guardrails," he said. "This is the United States Congress, things don't move as fast as we would like, but this technology is moving very quickly."