In a shocking statement, a senior defense official revealed to Defense One that the Pentagon’s interest in autonomous killer robots is growing faster. The official said on anonymously that the Pentagon is planning to reduce its investment in AI research and invest in actual AI weapons systems. "We are not investing in 'AI' anymore because I don't know what that means. We are investing in autonomous killer robots," he noted.
The official added that the current government is more focused on weapons and commercial systems than so-called "technology." Another official mentioned that the Pentagon will transfer some R&D expenses to the private sector. This means that the Pentagon wants to change its existing business model from "the government pays $100 million for research and companies build prototypes" to "we pay millions of dollars, and the industry pays $98 million, and then they build prototypes".
Looking to the future, the Department of Defense is looking to speed up the delivery of the deadliest, state-of-the-art technology and capabilities to combatants and is therefore examining the current structure to maximize efficiency. Although the military has been conducting research and ground testing on some so-called "Deadly Autonomous Weapons" (LAWs), the Pentagon is slow to fully accept the technology due to concerns about killer robots.
According to the first official, the new procurement process will be overseen by a new office described as the "commercial engineering version of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency" which will relocate staff from other Pentagon R&D departments. While the Trump administration has apparently opened the door to the Department of Defense’s move on killing mobile robots, the Biden administration’s policies paved the way for the decision.
In 2023, the Pentagon updated its ten-year old rules on LAWs, began to accelerate the acceptance of artificial intelligence, and established a chain of responsibility for development and deployment, requiring only the signatures of increasingly high-level officials. This move clearly disregards the long-standing UN call for a total ban on LAWs. With the president’s high focus on loyalty, officials who serve as senior federal agencies will almost certainly support decisions made by senior officials. So we may see the U.S. military commissioning and deploying killer robots in the next four years.
Key points:
The Pentagon will reduce investment in artificial intelligence research and turn to the development of autonomous killer mobile phone robots.
The new procurement model will shift R&D costs to the private sector to speed up technology delivery.
The Biden administration has updated regulations on lethal autonomous weapons and promoted the application of related technologies.