OpenAI just dragged its own brand

It sounds like a brag-worthy business coup: not just snagging a high-profile client, but doing so just after your chief rival’s deal with that same client unraveled in a brutally public way. But artificial intelligence pioneer OpenAI’s Pentagon deal didn’t end up being a brand-halo event. To the contrary, “it just looked opportunistic and sloppy”—and that’s the judgment of OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman.

Given widespread concerns about the potential downsides of AI, ranging from mass layoffs to robot overlords...