Scoop: Altman told staff he tried to "save" Anthropic in Pentagon clash
TL;DR
Internal Slack messages seen by Axios show Sam Altman told OpenAI staff he was trying to 'save' rival Anthropic as its Pentagon negotiations collapsed.
Key Points
- The messages span Feb. 24 to March 2 and reveal Altman casting himself as a peacemaker while OpenAI moved in to secure the contract Anthropic had just lost.
- Privately, Altman vented that Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had spent years trying to undermine him.
- The Pentagon standoff had been public since Feb. 14, when Axios first reported the Defense Department was weighing cutting ties with Anthropic.
Nauti's Take
'I'm saving you' – while countersigning your client contract. The pattern isn't surprising, but it's remarkably well-documented this time.
Altman's dual role as peacemaker and beneficiary within the same crisis illustrates just how thin the line between cooperation and opportunism runs at the frontier AI level. The claim that Amodei spent years trying to undermine him sounds like a convenient narrative – true or not.
What's most striking: both companies are fighting for government legitimacy while feuding fiercely behind closed doors.
Context
The Slack messages expose how closely self-interest and public posturing overlap at the top of the AI industry. Altman positioned himself internally as a mediator while OpenAI was the direct commercial beneficiary of Anthropic's government setback. This raises serious questions about trust and competition between frontier AI labs, especially when Pentagon contracts and national security are at stake.
Sources