A few days after announcing a version of ChatGPT intended for use by the US government, OpenAI continues to work with the federal government. On Thursday, the company announced that it will provide approximately 15,000 scientists affiliated with the US National Laboratories with access to its latest advanced artificial intelligence models. OpenAI will partner with Microsoft to deploy its o1 model “or another variant of the o-series” on Venado, the recently unveiled NVIDIA Grace Hopper-based supercomputer at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
According to OpenAI, researchers from Los Alamos, Livermore, and Sandia National Laboratories will use the company’s technology to protect the national power grid from cyberattacks, find new ways to treat and prevent diseases, study the fundamental laws of physics, and other initiatives.
“OpenAI’s collaboration with the U.S. National Laboratories builds on the U.S. government’s long tradition of working with the private sector to ensure that technological innovation leads to significant improvements in healthcare, energy, and other critical industries,” the company said.
Perhaps controversially, OpenAI claims that its AI models will also improve nuclear weapons operations – in particular, a program “aimed at reducing the risk of nuclear war and ensuring the security of nuclear materials and weapons worldwide.” According to the company, this support is “critical” to its “commitment to national security.” The company adds that OpenAI researchers with security clearance will offer “thorough and selective use case reviews and AI security advice.”
To date, Los Alamos National Laboratory has already used ChatGPT. For example, one of the lab’s divisions is studying how artificial intelligence models such as GPT-4o can be safely used to advance biological research. More broadly, according to OpenAI, since 2024, federal, state, and local government employees in 3,500 agencies across the country have sent more than 18 million messages to the chatbot.
This latest move by OpenAI is apparently aimed at currying favor with the Trump administration. Last week, OpenAI announced that it is working with SoftBank to build a $500 billion artificial intelligence infrastructure across the United States. Before that, Altman personally donated $1 million to President Trump’s inauguration.
