# Reflection AI

**Type:** AI company (open-weight models)
**Status:** Active
**Founded:** ~2025-2026 (exact date unclear)
**Focus:** Open-weight AI models positioned as 'American DeepSeek'

## Overview

Reflection AI is a newer AI company offering open-weight models—architectures where model weights are public, deployment is uncontrolled, and any actor can run the model independently. The company has been described by defense analysts as 'a deliberately American answer to DeepSeek,' indicating intentional positioning as an open-weight alternative with domestic provenance.

## Key Characteristics

**Architecture:** Open-weight models with public weights and no centralized deployment control

**Governance:** No centralized alignment governance—weights are public and deployment is uncontrolled

**Positioning:** Explicitly positioned as domestic alternative to foreign open-weight models

## Timeline

- **2026-05-01** — Included in Pentagon IL6/IL7 classified network AI agreements alongside AWS, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, SpaceX, and Oracle. Received approval to deploy AI on Impact Level 6 (secret) and Impact Level 7 (highly restricted) classified networks.

## Significance

Reflection AI's inclusion in Pentagon IL6/IL7 agreements represents the first documented case of an open-weight model startup receiving classified network endorsement at the highest security levels. The company's approval while Anthropic (a safety-constrained proprietary lab) was excluded suggests DoD architectural preference for deployment models with minimal alignment governance.

## Sources

- DoD Press Release, May 1, 2026
- Breaking Defense, May 2026
- DefenseScoop, May 2026