Google deepens Pentagon AI push after Anthropic sues Trump admin
People walk near a sign outside of Google headquarters in Mountain View, California.
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A day after Anthropic sued the Trump administration for designating the artificial intelligence company a supply chain risk, Google is deepening its relationship with the Defense Department and expanding the role of its Gemini AI models inside the military bureaucracy.
On Tuesday, Google said it will introduce a feature that lets civilian and military personnel build custom AI agents for unclassified work on GenAI.mil, the Pentagon’s enterprise AI portal. The DOD’s workforce of more than 3 million people will now be able to use a no-code or low-code tool called Agent Designer to create their own digital assistants for repetitive administrative tasks.
Google said that those agents can help with work such as drafting meeting notes, creating action items and breaking large projects into step-by-step plans. They will initially run on unclassified networks, but talks are reportedly already underway about expanding them to classified and top-secret environments.
Emil Michael, the DOD’s technology chief, told Bloomberg he has “high confidence” Google will be “a great partner on all networks.” Michael also told Bloomberg the Pentagon was “moving on” from its dispute with Anthropic and that the issue would not be resolved through the courts.
On Thursday, Anthropic confirmed that it had officially been designated a supply chain risk, an extraordinary move that’s historically been reserved for foreign adversaries. In its legal complaint on Monday, Anthropic said the government’s actions are “unprecedented and unlawful” and claimed they are “harming Anthropic irreparably.” Anthropic was booted for refusing to allow the DOD to use its technology for autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance.
Until recently, Anthropic had been the only AI provider operating inside the Pentagon’s classified cloud. But the Defense Department has added OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI to restricted networks, while also expanding cooperation with Google.
The rollout also lands at a moment of rising tension inside the tech industry over the military’s use of AI.
Google AI chief Jeff Dean, along with a couple dozen other employees from OpenAI and Google, signed onto an amicus brief backing Anthropic in its court battle against the Pentagon. Dean had previously expressed sympathy with some internal concerns about military AI and surveillance after employees were circulating letters calling for clearer limits on how their employer works with the military.
WATCH: Anthropic sues Trump administration over Pentagon blacklisting
