Latest news with #DougMatty
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Pentagon taps four commercial tech firms to expand military use of AI
The Pentagon announced Monday it has chosen Google, xAI, Anthropic and OpenAI to help the U.S. military expand its use of advanced artificial intelligence capabilities. Each company received a contract worth up to $200 million, according to a notice from the Chief Digital and AI Office. The firms will help the Defense Department develop agentic AI workflows for key national security missions. 'Leveraging commercially available solutions into an integrated capabilities approach will accelerate the use of advanced AI as part of our Joint mission essential tasks in our warfighting domain as well as intelligence, business, and enterprise information systems,' Chief Digital and AI Officer Doug Matty said in a statement. The military services have adopted generative AI tools to varying degrees and for a range of tasks — from tech support to finding files. Agentic AI uses more advanced reasoning to address and act on more complex challenges. The Pentagon didn't specify what missions the program would support, but the department has said it wants to use AI in areas like intelligence analysis, campaigning, logistics and data collection. Following the announcement, Elon Musk-owned xAI — whose conversational AI chatbot goes by the name Grok — unveiled a U.S. government-specific production line called Grok for Government. Grok has come under scrutiny after an update generated a slew of racists and antisemitic comments. In one instance, the chatbot referred to itself as 'MechaHitler.' The award follows Musk's months-long push from within the White House to slash federal spending. Amid a public falling out earlier this summer, President Donald Trump has threatened to cancel government contracts awarded to Musk's companies. Under this new deal, however, the billionaire's federal work would expand.
CNN
19 hours ago
- Business
- CNN
US Department of Defense awards contracts to Google, Musk's xAI
OpenAI, Alphabet's Google, Anthropic and Elon Musk's AI company xAI have won contracts of up to $200 million each, aimed at scaling up adoption of advanced artificial intelligence capabilities in the U.S. Department of Defense, the government agency said on Monday. The contracts will enable the DoD to develop agentic AI workflows and use them to address critical national security challenges, the department's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office said. 'The adoption of AI is transforming the (DoD's) ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries,' Chief Digital and AI Officer Doug Matty said. U.S. government agencies have been expanding their use of AI, driven by a White House order in April promoting adoption. President Donald Trump has also moved to soften regulation on the technology by revoking a 2023 Biden-era executive order, which sought to reduce AI risks through mandatory data disclosures. Separately on Monday, xAI announced a suite of its products called 'Grok for Government,' making its advanced AI models — including its latest flagship Grok 4 — available to federal, local, state and national security customers. The Pentagon announced last month that OpenAI was awarded a $200 million contract, saying the ChatGPT maker would 'develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains.' The contracts announced on Monday deepen the ties between companies leading the AI race and U.S. government operations, while addressing concerns around the need for competitive contracts for AI use in federal agencies. In May, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren had urged DoD to ensure competitive AI contracting at a time when Musk's Grok chatbot was gaining ground in the federal government.
Mint
a day ago
- Business
- Mint
Elon Musk's xAI, Google, OpenAI, Anthropic win $200 million Pentagon AI contracts: Details here
OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and xAI have each been awarded a contrct of up to $200 million by the US Department of Defence in a bid to scale up adoption of AI capabilities in the US. The new contract will help DoD develop agentic AI workflows and use them to address critical national security challenges, DoD's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Ofice said as per Reuters. "The adoption of AI is transforming the (DoD's) ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries," DoD's Chief Digital and AI Officer Doug Matty stated. US government agencies have reportedl been expanding their use of AI owing to a White House order in April which promoted the use of new technology. President Donald Trump has also looked to soften the regulation around AI by revoking a 2023 executive order which looked to reduce risks of AI by mandating data disclosures. In a separate announcement on Monday, xAI announced a new range of products called 'Grok for Government' which made its advanced AI models including the recently launched Grok 4 model available to local, federal, state and national government. Prior to xAI and Google, Pentagon had announced last month that it was awarding a $200 million contract for OpenAI, noting that the company would "develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains" The new contract also comes at a time when there has been rising distance between President Trump and Elon Musk. Trump's biggest backer during the 2024 elections had turned against him on the issue of government spending and later started his own American party. Meanwhile, Musk's xAI has also been embroiled in a recent controversy with the company's Grok chatbot spewing anti-semitic sentiments and even going on to praising Adolf Hitler last week. Since then, xAI has apologized for Grok's 'horrific' conduct and blamed it on a 'deprecated' code along with the extermist views of its users.
The Hindu
a day ago
- Business
- The Hindu
U.S. defence department awards contracts to Google, Musk's xAI
OpenAI, Alphabet's Google, Anthropic and Elon Musk's AI firm xAI have won contracts of up to $200 million each, aimed at scaling up adoption of advanced AI capabilities in the U.S. Department of Defense, the government agency said on Monday. The contracts will enable the DoD to develop agentic AI workflows and use them to address critical national security challenges, the department's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office said. "The adoption of AI is transforming the (DoD's) ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries," Chief Digital and AI Officer Doug Matty said. U.S. government agencies have been expanding their use of AI, driven by a White House order in April promoting adoption. President Donald Trump has also moved to soften regulation on the technology by revoking a 2023 Biden-era executive order, which sought to reduce AI risks through mandatory data disclosures. Separately on Monday, xAI announced a suite of its products called "Grok for Government", making its advanced AI models — including its latest flagship Grok 4 — available to federal, local, state and national security customers. The Pentagon announced last month that OpenAI was awarded a $200 million contract, saying the ChatGPT maker would "develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains". The contracts announced on Monday deepen the ties between companies leading the AI race and U.S. government operations, while addressing concerns around the need for competitive contracts for AI use in federal agencies. In May, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren had urged DoD to ensure competitive AI contracting at a time when Musk's Grok chatbot was gaining ground in the federal government.
The Sun
a day ago
- Business
- The Sun
US defense department awards contracts to Google, Musk's xAI
OpenAI, Alphabet's Google, Anthropic and Elon Musk's AI firm xAI have won contracts of up to $200 million each, aimed at scaling up adoption of advanced AI capabilities in the U.S. Department of Defense, the government agency said on Monday. The contracts will enable the DoD to develop agentic AI workflows and use them to address critical national security challenges, the department's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office said. 'The adoption of AI is transforming the (DoD's) ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries,' Chief Digital and AI Officer Doug Matty said. U.S. government agencies have been expanding their use of AI, driven by a White House order in April promoting adoption. President Donald Trump has also moved to soften regulation on the technology by revoking a 2023 Biden-era executive order, which sought to reduce AI risks through mandatory data disclosures. Separately on Monday, xAI announced a suite of its products called 'Grok for Government', making its advanced AI models — including its latest flagship Grok 4 — available to federal, local, state and national security customers. The Pentagon announced last month that OpenAI was awarded a $200 million contract, saying the ChatGPT maker would 'develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains'. The contracts announced on Monday deepen the ties between companies leading the AI race and U.S. government operations, while addressing concerns around the need for competitive contracts for AI use in federal agencies. In May, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren had urged DoD to ensure competitive AI contracting at a time when Musk's Grok chatbot was gaining ground in the federal government. - Reuters
