February 28, 2026
Lobbying Level: Final Boss
The whole thing was a scam
Internet screams 'rigged' as Altman backs Dario—then lands the Pentagon deal
TLDR: Altman publicly supported Anthropic’s CEO, then secured a Pentagon AI deal the same week, while Anthropic was sidelined as a “supply chain risk.” Comments accuse pay-to-play corruption, argue this is capitalism working as designed, and counter that it’s really a fight over who sets the rules for AI use.
Gary Marcus lit the match by calling the AI saga a “scam,” and the comments poured gasoline. The community is roasting the timeline: Altman publicly backed Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei, then—per the NYT report—quietly sealed a Pentagon AI deal the same week. Anthropic was labeled a “supply chain risk” and pushed aside, while chatter swirled about OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman’s $25M donation to Trump’s political group. The mood? Rigged vibes and pay-to-play outrage.
Commenters went wild. One summed it up: “You can’t get more Altman than that,” with others joking he “speedran the Pentagon.” User mentalgear warned of a capital and talent “exodus” if bribery becomes the business model. Another hot take: dist-epoch argued this is capitalism working as designed—“Capital is king,” not markets. Meanwhile, ajshahH declared the US already crossed into oligarchy “post-WW2,” with snarky replies like “Transitioned (past tense)” and the meme-y “Congress, <checks notes> do your job.”
Not everyone cried conspiracy. pton_xd pointed to an official thread claiming the real fight was over who decides “lawful usage” of the tech—Washington or Amodei. So the drama splits three ways: corruption, capitalism doing capitalism, or just a power struggle over rules. Either way, the internet’s verdict? Spicy, cynical, and meme-heavy.
Key Points
- •The author alleges Sam Altman negotiated a government AI deal while publicly supporting Anthropic’s Dario Amodei.
- •A New York Times report is cited as saying Altman had been working on the deal since the prior Wednesday.
- •The piece claims the U.S. government rejected Anthropic’s terms, labeled the company a supply chain risk, and selected another provider with similar terms.
- •The article notes Greg Brockman donated $25 million to Trump’s PAC before the deal timeline and that Trump denounced Anthropic.
- •The author references reports of a $1.5B writers’ settlement involving Anthropic and a Time article on Anthropic revising a core safety pledge.