Google is in talks with the US Department of Defense that would allow the Pentagon to use the company's Gemini AI models for classified purposes, according to The Information. If the deal comes to fruition, it could represent a deepening of ties between Google and the Pentagon, which is seeking AI partners after its falling out with Anthropic in recent months.
People with knowledge of the discussions told the publication that progress has been made toward a deal. The negotiations have reportedly included Google's proposal of language in the contract preventing its AI models from being deployed for autonomous weapons and domestic mass surveillance without human oversight.
This was the heart of the disagreement between Anthropic and the Pentagon, and it remains unclear whether Google's terms will ultimately appear in the final agreement.
The Information reported that the current discussions build upon a previous agreement between the Pentagon and Google — struck last November — for the US military to use its AI models for all lawful purposes, though that agreement was for unclassified settings only. Google Distributed Cloud, a secure cloud product, can be used for the Department of Defense's classified work, although its current computing capacity is limited.
As a result, the recent conversations between the tech giant and the US military reportedly include increasing compute capacity for the Pentagon's classified work. This may include running tensor processing units (TPUs) — chips developed by Google for neural network machine learning — for classified uses for the first time. Racks of GPUs could also be added to Google Distributed Cloud in the short term.
Google's new stance on military cooperation
This marks a departure from Google's past resistance to military contracts. In 2018, Google decided not to renew a contract with the Pentagon after thousands of its employees voiced their opposition to the company's involvement in Project Maven. Initially focused on processing images and videos for intelligence gathering, Project Maven has since been expanded to help drones identify potential military targets.
At the time, thousands of Google employees signed an open letter opposing the Pentagon partnership, which they feared could be the start of using AI for lethal purposes. Despite seeing the military contract as a significant opportunity, Google's leadership was also concerned about public backlash and ended the partnership.
The company has gradually reversed its stance since then. In 2022, Google Cloud set up a division to sell its products to public sector customers, including federal, state, and local government and education systems. Called Google Public Sector, Google hired former government workers and contractors, including military veterans, to staff the new unit.
Yet this unit still accounts for a tiny fraction of Google's overall business. The Information reported that Google Public Sector aimed to grow its sales and contracts to US$6 billion by 2027, far smaller than the over US$400 billion in revenue Google generated in 2025.
It also faces formidable competition from other cloud vendors. Data from the TBR Insight Center shows that Microsoft, Oracle, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have been awarded virtually all hyperscaler contracts from the US government. While Oracle and Microsoft obtained the largest shares of awards due to license and support contracts, AWS has seen a rise in defense-related contracts since 2024.
An alternative to Anthropic?
Google's negotiations with the Pentagon follow the conflict that erupted between Anthropic and the US military earlier this year. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had raised concerns about restrictions on its models being used for mass domestic surveillance or autonomous lethal weapons by the military, which had integrated Anthropic's Claude models since 2024.
After the dispute became public and both sides failed to reach an agreement, the US government designated Anthropic as a "supply chain risk" and initiated a six-month phase-out period for its models from the Pentagon and military contractors. Since then, Anthropic has filed two lawsuits against the US military over this designation, with one judge deciding in the company's favor while the other has yet to be concluded, according to Reuters.
In the meantime, the Pentagon has held talks with Anthropic's rival OpenAI In the meantime, the Pentagon has held talks with Anthropic's rival, OpenAI, for a deal to use its AI models. OpenAI's contract appears to include the same restrictions on mass domestic surveillance and lethal autonomous weapons that Anthropic had pressed for, though the company agreed that its AI models could be used for "all lawful purposes."
TechCrunch reported that a number of Google and OpenAI employees signed an open letter in February urging their companies to support Anthropic in its fight with the Pentagon. The letter called on their companies' leadership to uphold the boundaries that Anthropic had set; at the time, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had also voiced concerns to the media about the US government's actions against the AI company.
Article edited by Jerry Chen
