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The US has also promoted a number of AI tech bros to senior Army Reserve positions to develop new military technology, another puzzle piece in its push to implement new technology into defence projects.
The Pentagon has granted OpenAI a US$200 million contract to provide the US Department of Defence (DOD) with AI capabilities.
In a statement released overnight, the US said that under the contract, OpenAI will create “prototype” AI to bolster the capabilities of the DOD.
“Under this award, the performer will develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
The Pentagon said the research and development of the AI is estimated to be completed by July 2026 and that OpenAI has been granted $1,999,998 for its fiscal 2025 research, development, testing and evaluation. The research will be conducted largely near Washington.
US Military goes all in on AI
At the same time, the US Army has begun recruiting tech leaders from OpenAI, Meta, and other AI companies for its new Executive Innovation Corps, which will oversee the integration of technology into military innovation.
OpenAI chief product officer Kevin Weil; Meta’s chief technology officer (CTO), Andrew Bosworth; Palantir’s CTO, Shyam Sankar; and Thinking Machines Lab advisor and former OpenAI chief research officer Bob McGrew have been granted the rank of lieutenant colonel in the US Army Reserve.
The Executive Innovation Corps, also known as Detachment 201, will “work on targeted projects to help guide rapid and scalable tech solutions to complex problems,” according to the US Army.
“By bringing private-sector know-how into uniform, Det. 201 is supercharging efforts like the Army Transformation Initiative, which aims to make the force leaner, smarter, and more lethal.
“Their swearing-in is just the start of a bigger mission to inspire more tech pros to serve without leaving their careers, showing the next generation how to make a difference in uniform.”
Both OpenAI’s new defence contract and the swearing-in of four tech bro lieutenant colonels may seem like a surprise given Silicon Valley’s previous stance against aiding defence programs; however, AI companies have been moving closer to military projects for some time now.
Defence contractor Anduril Industries entered into a partnership with OpenAI last year and most recently partnered with Meta to develop new US military products.
Bosworth said at the beginning of the month that a “silent majority” of Silicon Valley are interested in taking part in defence projects.
“There’s a much stronger patriotic underpinning than I think people give Silicon Valley credit for. Silicon Valley was founded on military development, and there’s really a long history here that we are kind of hoping to return to,” Bosworth told Bloomberg.
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