Yesterday in AI: 01 May 2026 — DoD Signs 8 AI Deals, Anthropic Gets Zero

Pentagon formally signed 8 classified AI contracts — excluding Anthropic — while Microsoft Agent 365 hit GA and Mistral dropped a 128B open-weight model that beats Claude Sonnet 4.5.

By OMC Editorial on 2026-05-02

TL;DR — The Pentagon signed classified AI contracts with 8 companies while keeping Anthropic blacklisted as a “supply chain risk,” with CTO Emil Michael describing Claude Mythos as “a separate national security moment”; Microsoft released Agent 365 to general availability as a $15/user/month multi-cloud AI governance layer; Mistral released Medium 3.5, a 128B open-weight model with a 256K context window that outperforms Claude Sonnet 4.5 at roughly 10× lower API cost. --- 1️⃣ Pentagon Signs 8 AI Defense Deals — Anthropic Gets Zero - What: The Department of Defense announced classified AI deployment contracts with SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, NVIDIA, Reflection, Microsoft, AWS, and Oracle — while Defense Secretary Hegseth’s office reaffirmed Anthropic’s “supply chain risk” designation the same day. - Why it matters: Defense contractors must now certify they do not use Claude in Pentagon-related work, shutting Anthropic out of federal revenue and setting a precedent for government AI access requirements. - Key number: 8 companies signed; 0 contracts for Anthropic. Pentagon CTO Emil Michael confirmed Anthropic “is still blacklisted” in a May 1 CNBC interview, but carved out a deliberate distinction for Claude Mythos: “That model has capabilities particular to finding cyber vulnerabilities and patching them — it’s a separate national security moment.” The implication: Washington wants defensive access to Mythos even while rejecting commercial Claude. The standoff dates to February 2026, when Hegseth designated Anthropic a supply-chain risk — the first ever against an American firm — after Anthropic refused unrestricted model access for autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance. Hegseth likened Anthropic’s conditions to “Boeing telling us who we can shoot at.” Anthropic has filed two federal lawsuits challenging the designation, and CEO Dario Amodei met White House officials in April; President Trump subsequently said a deal is “possible.” 📎 Defense Newshttps: