In a big transfer to strengthen nationwide defence capabilities by synthetic intelligence, the US Division of Protection (DoD) has awarded contracts to 4 main AI firms: OpenAI, Google (Alphabet), Anthropic and Elon Musk’s xAI. The contracts, every capped at $200 million, purpose to speed up the mixing of cutting-edge AI into defence workflows, the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and Synthetic Intelligence Workplace (CDAO) confirmed on Monday.
The initiative will focus on creating superior agentic AI methods, autonomous software program brokers able to executing advanced duties, to assist each fight operations and broader enterprise features. The hassle is seen as a part of a broader technique to keep up the US’ technological edge in an more and more aggressive global atmosphere.
“These strategic partnerships will improve the Department’s exposure to frontier AI applied sciences and permit taking part corporations to achieve deeper perception into the distinctive challenges confronted by nationwide safety companies,” the CDAO stated in an official assertion.
The transfer comes on the heels of the DoD’s announcement final month that OpenAI had been chosen for a $200 million contract to prototype high-level AI capabilities for mission-critical situations, each on and off the battlefield.
Anthropic, identified for its safety-centric strategy to AI, joins the trouble alongside Google, whose AI division DeepMind has lengthy been a pioneer in reinforcement studying and enormous language fashions. Elon Musk’s xAI, a comparatively new entrant however quickly increasing in ambition, can be among the many corporations tapped for this nationwide defence AI push.
The White House, by the Workplace of Administration and Funds, lately issued steerage to federal departments urging them to advertise a aggressive and progressive AI ecosystem in the US. In its April directive, the administration emphasised that federal procurement of AI applied sciences ought to profit each nationwide pursuits and the general public.
By partnering with these high-profile corporations, the Pentagon hopes to pioneer AI options that might form future warfare and guarantee safe, moral, and mission-ready deployment of frontier applied sciences.
(With inputs from Reuters)
