[ExI] OpenAI Reaches A.I. Agreement With Defense Dept. After Anthropic Clash

[spike at rainier66.com]

From: John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> 
Sent: Saturday, 28 February, 2026 1:20 PM
To: spike at rainier66.com
Cc: ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Subject: Re: [ExI] OpenAI Reaches A.I. Agreement With Defense Dept. After Anthropic Clash

 

On Sat, Feb 28, 2026 at 10:42 AM <spike at rainier66.com <mailto:spike at rainier66.com> > wrote:

 

> Former officials don’t know what is going on in the pentagon any more than the NYT does.  Claude may be good, but you can be sure that whatever they have now is better.

 

 

>…What?! You believe that the Pentagon has access to a smarter AI than anything the AI companies have?? For that to be true it would mean that for the last several years hundreds of the very top AI researchers in the entire world have decided that they would rather be government employees and work for the military rather than work for Anthropic or OpenAI or Google and become filthy rich. And I don't believe there is a snowballs chance in hell of that has occurred, or will ever occur….

 

The pentagon has a lot of money to buy technology and do it secretly.  This is how Anthropic, OpenAI and Google become filthy rich.  We don’t know what technology the pentagon has, by design.

 

When it comes to AI, the pentagon wants to strictly control what input is used to train it.  They could use the same technology that Anthropic and the others use, then send it to boot camp rather than Columbia University.  The final product would be very different.

 

>…By the way I'm curious if you agree with He Who Must Not Be Named that Anthropic is a "Radical Left AI company" run by "Leftwing nut jobs" because they don't think an AI conducting mass surveillance on the American people or an AI controlling a lethal weapon without a human being in the decision pipeline are good ideas. I suppose you do agree, I suppose you feel that it's your duty to agree with everything he does and says. I'd love it if you told me I'm wrong about that.   John K Clark

 

John that is an oversimplification.  Companies are already doing mass surveillance on all of us, watching our internet searches, our purchases, every transaction.  They want their cut of the action if they can get it.  Experiment: google search on anything, then watch ads pop up about that product.  AI conducting mass surveillance on US citizens predated the current POTUS.

 

Keep in mind that everything isn’t about POTUS.  Your hatred of that one guy gives you tunnel vision.  You interpret everything that happens as related to that one guy you hate.  But it isn’t all about him.  AI isn’t all about him.  You are not alone.  I have plenty of friends who do not know what to do with regard to the strike on Iran which has killed the Ayatolla.  POTUS did that, so from their POV it must be wrong.  But if it is wrong, then they are pushed into defending a guy who murdered women for not covering their hair.  I was on the phone with her about an hour ago, and she did not know what to say.  Well, ok then, I know what to say: this had to happen.  Good luck to the Persians.

 

spike

 

 

 

 

 

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