Palmer Luckey says the arms race is no longer about bigger missiles but autonomous weapons that operate using artificial intelligence and he wants the United States to be “the world gun store” that supplies them.
What Happened: The Anduril founder told CBS’ 60 Minutes that commercial tech has surpassed the Pentagon, arguing that a Tesla has better AI than any U.S. aircraft and a Roomba has better autonomy than most Pentagon weapons systems.
“Right now, there are so many weapon systems that require manning… If I can have one guy command and controlling 100 aircraft, that’s a lot easier,” Luckey said.
Though he conceded the idea of autonomous weapons “is a scary idea,” he insisted, “that’s the world we live in.” He added, “There’s no moral high ground to making a land mine that can’t tell the difference between a school bus full of children and Russian armor.”
See also: Tesla Is Accepting Trade-Ins For 2024 Cybertruck Amid Plummeting Sales: Report
Luckey says the Costa Mesa, California, company will top $6 billion in defense contracts by year-end after beating legacy primes for Air Force and Special Operations deals. “We’re gonna be making large numbers of cruise missiles, large numbers of fighter jets… day 100,” he told CBS.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has labeled fully autonomous lethal weapons “politically unacceptable and morally repugnant” and wants a treaty banning them by 2026. Luckey counters: “It’s not a question between smart weapons and no weapons. It’s a question between smart weapons and dumb weapons.”
The 32-year-old sold Oculus to Facebook for $2 billion in 2014 and was fired two years later after a $9,000 political donation sparked controversy — an ouster that Facebook denies.
Photo Courtesy: Anggalih Prasetya On Shutterstock.com
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