FOIA Contracts Show the Pentagon Asked OpenAI for 'Minimal Refusal Rates'
The Intercept·high signal
The Intercept obtained the OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and xAI Pentagon contracts through a FOIA lawsuit, each with a $200M ceiling, covering prototypes for military decision-making, intelligence analysis and operational planning. Beyond building tools, the labs agreed to advise the Pentagon on AI strategy, train military personnel, and forecast the risks of their own technology. The documents include a DoD request to OpenAI for a custom version engineered around "minimal refusal rates"; OpenAI says that phrase never made the signed version.