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SpaceX, xAI to compete in Pentagon contest for autonomous drone tech
- SpaceX and xAI are competing in a $100 million Pentagon prize challenge launched in January, a six-month competition to develop voice-controlled autonomous drone swarms.
- Amid a Pentagon AI Acceleration Strategy, officials moved to cut red tape and speed drone deployment, with the Defense Innovation Unit and Defense Autonomous Warfare Group launching the prize to bring Silicon Valley startups into domestic drone manufacturing.
- Structured in five phases, the competition begins with software development and moves to live testing; SpaceX and xAI work together while OpenAI focuses on mission control, with xAI holding a $200 million contract and recruiting security-cleared engineers recently.
- Some defense officials warned that integrating chatbots risks AI making decisions without human oversight, while Elon Musk's firms entered the Pentagon contest despite his prior backing of a ban on `offensive autonomous weapons` after the SpaceX–xAI merger in early February.
- If successful, the program could change battlefield lethality and how the military buys autonomous systems, as a defense official said human-machine interaction will impact effectiveness, aligning with the Pentagon's AI Acceleration Strategy.
31 Articles
31 Articles
SpaceX, under the leadership of Elon Musk, is expanding its collaboration with the U.S. Defense Department by participating in a competition to create independent drone software with intelligence...
Elon Musk, the one who alerted on autonomous weapons joins an American program designed to make military drones more effective, and more lethal. ...
SpaceX and xAI tapped by Pentagon for autonomous drone contest
SpaceX and its AI subsidiary xAI are reportedly competing in a new Pentagon prize challenge focused on autonomous drone swarming technology, as per a report from Bloomberg News. The six-month competition was launched in January and is said to carry a $100 million award. Bloomberg reported that SpaceX and xAI are among a select group invited to participate in the Defense Department’s effort to develop advanced drone swarming capabilities. The go…
SpaceX to compete in Pentagon contest for autonomous drone tech – report
Elon Musk’s SpaceX and its wholly-owned subsidiary xAI are competing in a secret new Pentagon contest to produce voice-controlled, autonomous drone swarming technology, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, February 16, citing people familiar with the matter. SpaceX, xAI and the Pentagon’s defense innovation unit did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Reuters could not independently verify the report. Texas-based SpaceX recently acqui…
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