The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced on Monday that it will award up to $200 million in contracts to companies including Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, and xAI. The DoD's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office stated the funding is aimed at enhancing AI capabilities to tackle national security challenges. Doug Matty, DoD’s chief digital and AI officer, emphasized that this advancement is critical for maintaining strategic advantages over adversaries.