CAISI signs frontier AI evaluation agreements with Google DeepMind, Microsoft and xAI
Updated
Updated · NIST · May 5
CAISI signs frontier AI evaluation agreements with Google DeepMind, Microsoft and xAI
10 articles · Updated · NIST · May 5
The Commerce Department unit said in Washington it has completed more than 40 evaluations, including unreleased state-of-the-art models, under Secretary Howard Lutnick's direction.
The deals cover pre- and post-deployment testing, targeted research, information-sharing and classified-environment assessments, with developers sometimes providing models with safeguards reduced or removed.
They renegotiate earlier partnerships under America's AI Action Plan and expand a programme that already includes OpenAI and Anthropic through CAISI's interagency TRAINS national security taskforce.
With AI now able to autonomously hack systems, how can we ensure it remains a tool for defense, not attack?
With AI development costs soaring, is the future of powerful AI controlled by only a handful of corporations?
Anthropic Barred as Pentagon Pushes $200M AI Integration with Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Others
Overview
In early 2026, the Pentagon formed strategic partnerships with eight leading AI companies to create an "AI-first fighting force," deploying advanced AI tools through the GenAI.mil platform to over 1.3 million personnel. This effort required vendors to accept a "lawful use" standard allowing unrestricted military applications, including surveillance and autonomous weapons. While most companies agreed, Anthropic rejected this on ethical grounds, leading to its designation as a supply chain risk and a subsequent lawsuit challenging the government’s action. Meanwhile, industry tensions grew as employees and investors pressured firms like Google and OpenAI over ethical concerns. Simultaneously, xAI’s Grok 4 advanced AI capabilities gained traction in defense and enterprise, and OpenAI’s shift to multi-cloud partnerships intensified competition among cloud providers, reshaping the AI landscape amid ongoing debates over military AI governance.