Sam Altman is stuck playing defense. It all started a week ago.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman

Kevin Wolf/AP

• Sam Altman and OpenAI face backlash after Pentagon deal raises ethical concerns.
• Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei rejected Pentagon terms, prompting a heated response from officials.
• Anthropic's Claude app surged in downloads as users react to OpenAI's Pentagon deal.

Days after triumphantly declaring victory and landing a big deal with the US government, Sam Altman is stuck playing defense.

In an interesting twist, OpenAI's...