The artificial intelligence firm, OpenAI, announced a new partnership with Leidos, a gigantic government contracting firm valued at about $24 billion, to integrate AI technology into government operations.
The partnership, which was announced in a press release on Thursday, seeks to use artificial intelligence technology across government agencies with the aim of boosting efficiency in government operations, including matters of security.
Leidos may not be a well-known company to most Americans, as it does not enjoy the level of public awareness of companies such as Apple or Google.
Yet to those who deal with the complex interconnected networks of the US government, Leidos is a behemoth of the government contracting industry. Like companies such as Oracle or Sun Microsystems, Leidos functions more or less out of the public eye.
Also, the focus of the partnership will be on incorporating OpenAI systems into federal operations, specifically those that involve matters of defense, security, and infrastructure. According to a statement by Ted Tanner, who is the company’s Chief Technology Officer, in a joint press release announcing their partnership, “we’re harnessing the transformative power of AI to help improve how federal agencies operate.”
Leidos has deep roots in the federal government, handling everything from procurement to logistics. The company even dodged the worst of last year’s budget cuts when the Department of Government Efficiency (lately known to aficionados as DOGE) went on its cost-cutting spree.
Leidos, DHS, and the New Frontier of OpenAI Integration
In a somewhat amusing about-face, DOGE initially announced it had axed a Leidos contract worth $1 billion, only to backtrack and reassess the cancelled contract’s actual value at just $560,000.
A Leidos spokesperson told the Times at the time that the company “strongly support[s] the goal of creating a dramatically more efficient and effective federal government that costs taxpayers less money.”
The contractor’s relationship with the Department of Homeland Security runs particularly deep. Roy Stevens, president of Leidos’ “Homeland Sector,” described the company’s “strong relationship with DHS” in a 2023 statement. At that time, Leidos was “supporting cross-agency intelligence sharing and secure collaboration for federal and civilian agencies” to help DHS “accomplish their mission of safeguarding the homeland.”
This connection also illuminates the question of how OpenAI technology could be employed by DHS and one of the many sub-agencies it has control over, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Patrol, and Homeland Security Investigation, as these entities have been surrounded by controversy throughout the past.
This move with Leidos, therefore, appears to be a big expansion of the role of the federal government with which OpenAI would be engaging. This time, rather than working with any and every agency of the government, OpenAI would be working with what is arguably one of the most well-established and security-clearance entities within the federal government.
The nature of what exactly AI integration with such an AI will look like isn’t entirely known. The aim of such an effort, at least as described within the press release announcing the union, is to change the operation of both the federal government. While the applications of such AI are certainly wide-reaching, these answers will presumably come down the line with such a union.
OpenAI’s Silence on the Ethics of National Security Partnerships
Gizmodo made an appeal to OpenAI Inc. to comment on the matter and specifically on the following question: What does it imply to be working alongside a contractor so entrenched with DHS and its now-infamous immigration-related units? OpenAI Inc. has yet to respond to the matter as of the writing of this article.
The partnership illustrates the increasing trend in which AI-based companies are entering the government contracting business. This is a very lucrative market in which relationships and trust constitute a significant criterion in addition to technology.
This partnership represents OpenAI’s evolution from being just a research organization to becoming a well-known enterprise entity. Leidos views this partnership as a vital touchstone in modern times in which AI-based technology is becoming integral to organizational undertakings.
As AI becomes more integrated into the government, the question surrounding the issue is bound to become more pertinent, as the government is in control of the lives of citizens.
