OpenAI wins US$200mn US defense contract

RTHK5 days ago

OpenAI wins US$200mn US defense contract
OpenAI is tasked with developing AI prototypes to address "national security challenges." Photo: Reuters
ChatGPT maker OpenAI was awarded a US$200 million contract to provide the US Defense Department with artificial intelligence tools, the Pentagon said in a statement on Monday.
"Under this award, the performer will develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains," the Pentagon said.
The work will be primarily performed in and near Washington with an estimated completion date of July 2026, the Pentagon said.
OpenAI said last week that its annualised revenue run rate surged to US$10 billion as of June, positioning the company to hit its full-year target amid booming AI adoption.
OpenAI said in March it would raise up to US$40 billion in a new funding round led by SoftBank Group at a US$300 billion valuation.
OpenAI had 500 million weekly active users as of the end of March.
The White House's Office of Management and Budget released new guidance in April directing federal agencies to ensure that the government and "the public benefit from a competitive American AI marketplace."
The guidance had exempted national security and defense systems. (Reuters)

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How much of a future does Elon Musk really have in US politics?

South China Morning Post

5 hours ago

South China Morning Post

How much of a future does Elon Musk really have in US politics?

Convinced that his vision for the future of artificial intelligence was superior to that of OpenAI head Sam Altman and former Google chief executive Larry Page, Elon Musk cut ties with Page and parted ways with OpenAI, which he helped found in 2015. That same decisive belief in himself has famously spilled into politics. After spending nearly US$300 million in Donald Trump's 2024 campaign and working unofficially in the White House for months, Musk clashed publicly with the US president over a spending bill, which he called a ' disgusting abomination '. In the heat of the dispute, he floated the idea earlier this month of forming a third party to fix what he sees as a broken electoral system. 'Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?,' he asked his 230 million followers on X, the social media platform he owns. Around 80 per cent of respondents voted yes. Musk reacted by sharing a potential name: 'the American Party'. But does the tech titan really have a future in politics? In a 2023 biography by Walter Isaacson, Musk himself admitted that he had a 'habit of biting off more than I can chew'. His younger brother Kimbal, who sits on the boards of Tesla and SpaceX, both Musk companies, described his sibling as a 'drama magnet'. A leader in industries capable of determining a nation's future economic success, Musk in the past year seemed determined to inject drama into politics, both in the US and abroad.