Anduril co-founder Palmer Lackey on Sunday defended the use of AI technology to make life-or-death decisions in war.
A group of defense technology startups, including Anduril, are working with traditional defense companies to develop autonomous AI weapons and tools for use in conflicts around the world, raising concerns among some that the technology is not ready for such a high-stakes environment.
“When it comes to life-or-death decisions, whatever it is, I think it's too morally questionable and too judgmental to not apply the best technology available,” Lackey told journalist Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday.”
“Whether it's AI or quantum or whatever. If you're talking about killing people, you need to minimize the amount of collateral damage. You need to be as sure as possible in whatever you do.”
Lackey added that it was important to “be as effective as possible.”
“So, to me, there's no moral high ground in using inferior technology, even if it means we can say, 'We'll never let a robot decide who lives and who dies,'” Lackey said.
Founded in 2017, Anduril Industries is a defense technology company focused on developing autonomous systems. The company's mission is to modernize the U.S. military through a variety of technologies, including surveillance equipment, aircraft, and autonomous weapons. Anduril's AI software platform, Lattice, powers that technology.
Before Anduril, Mr. Lackey founded virtual reality company Oculus VR in 2012. Two years later, he sold the company to Facebook for $2 billion in cash and stock.
Anduril announced in February that it would take over a $22 billion contract between Microsoft and the Army. The partnership, approved by the Pentagon in April, means Anduril will now oversee the Integrated Vision Augmentation System, a program to develop wearable devices for soldiers that integrate advanced augmented reality and virtual reality technology.
In October, the company announced EagleEye, which it said “embeds mission command and AI directly into the warfighter's helmet.”
In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Lackey said he co-founded Anduril because he wanted to “push people out of the tech industry who were working on issues that I thought weren't that important, like advertising, social media, entertainment, and get them working on issues that really matter, like defense issues and national security issues.”
Advanced technology is transforming the way the military operates, from administrative tasks to field capabilities.
Drones have emerged as an important tool in recent years, helping new defense industry startups secure government contracts and funding. The tech defense sector is booming under the Trump administration, which has invested heavily in AI and expressed interest in testing nuclear weapons.
Lackey said in April that the United States had long ago opened “Pandora's Box” and there was no turning back on the use of AI in war.
“Journalists will say, 'Well, we shouldn't open Pandora's box,'” he said. “And what I would say to them is that Pandora's box was opened a long time ago by anti-radiation missiles aimed at surface-to-air missile launchers.”
