Our approach to government and national security partnerships
OpenAI outlines its principles for partnering with governments and national security agencies, emphasizing responsible AI use aligned with democratic values, avoiding harm, and contributing to public benefit while maintaining ethical safeguards.
Background
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT and the GPT large-language-model family, publishes a policy framework for working with governments and national-security agencies. This comes amid a global debate: advanced AI is seen both as a transformative tool for defense, intelligence, and public services, and as a technology that could be misused for surveillance, autonomous weapons, or propaganda. OpenAI's earlier charter had a blanket "no weapons" clause; this document signals a shift toward selective government cooperation, drawing a line between acceptable (cyber-defense, deterrence) and unacceptable (weapons development, mass surveillance) uses. The context is a broader industry trend: AI labs that once pledged "responsible" research are now actively courting military and intelligence clients, especially as US-China strategic competition intensifies.