OpenAI is facing a user revolt after hastily striking a deal to supply AI to the US Department of War, a move its own CEO admitted looked "opportunistic and sloppy." The contract, signed immediately after the Pentagon dropped previous contractor Anthropic, sparked fears that ChatGPT's technology could be used for domestic mass surveillance. Despite OpenAI's insistence that the deal included strict guardrails, critics drew parallels to the Snowden scandal, triggering a "delete ChatGPT" campaign on social media.

OpenAI has been forced into damage control mode after a hastily arranged contract with the US Department of War ignited a firestorm of criticism, with CEO Sam Altman admitting the move looked "opportunistic and sloppy."

The deal, struck almost immediately after the Pentagon dropped its previous AI contractor Anthropic, sparked fears that ChatGPT's technology could be used for domestic mass surveillance. While OpenAI insisted the contract included "more guardrails than any previous agreement," critics drew parallels to the 2013 Snowden revelations of mass data harvesting by the NSA.

Altman moved quickly to contain the fallout, announcing the startup would explicitly bar its technology from domestic surveillance use or deployment by intelligence agencies like the NSA. In a message to employees, he acknowledged the rollout was mishandled. "We shouldn't have rushed to get this out on Friday. The issues are super complex, and demand clear communication."

The controversy has triggered an online backlash, with X and Reddit users promoting a "delete ChatGPT" campaign. Competitor Anthropic—whose CEO called mass surveillance "incompatible with democratic values" after being branded "leftwing nut jobs" by President Trump—saw its Claude chatbot surge past ChatGPT on Apple's App Store charts.

The military application of AI has alarmed nearly 900 employees at OpenAI and Google, who signed an open letter urging their leaders to refuse Department of War demands for using models for "domestically surveilling people and autonomously killing without human oversight." They warned the government was trying to "divide each company with fear that the other will give in."