Silicon Valley is rushing to work with the military on advanced technology solutions after decades of turning their nose up at the idea of helping to defend America. Companies like Google, infamous for its woke leftist employee base, now seem open to partnering with the Pentagon on high tech defense programs.
The New York Times reports that over the past two years, Silicon Valley’s leaders and investors have plunged headfirst into the defense market, marking a significant cultural shift in the tech industry. Companies like Meta, Google, and OpenAI, which once had policies banning the use of artificial intelligence in weapons, have now removed such language. OpenAI is creating anti-drone technology, while Meta is making virtual reality glasses to train soldiers for battle. Tech executives have even joined a newly-formed Army Reserve unit decidated to technological innovation in the military.
This change is driven by several factors, including the changing political climate, competition with China for tech leadership, and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, where drones and AI-backed weapons have become common. Silicon Valley’s militarization is actually a return to the region’s roots. In the 1950s, the Defense Department began investing in tech companies in the area to compete with Russia during the Cold War. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) incubated technology that became the basis for Silicon Valley’s largest companies.
However, in the late 1990s and 2000s, tech companies turned toward consumer technology and presented themselves as “doing good” and democratizing technology. This drew a workforce of extreme leftists opposed to working with the defense establishment. In 2018, Google employees protested a Pentagon contract called Project Maven, leading the company to drop out of the race for a $10 billion cloud computing contract with the Department of Defense.
Now, the tide has turned. Palantir has become a model for other tech companies, with its market value ballooning to more than $375 billion. The shift has benefited defense start-ups like Anduril, which designs AI-backed weapons and has signed multi-million dollar contracts with the Marine Corps and the Department of Defense. Y Combinator, a start-up incubator, funded its first defense start-up in August 2024, and venture capital investment in defense-related companies surged 33 percent last year to $31 billion.
Breitbart News previously reported that Anduril is partnering with Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta on AR and VR headsets for troops, years after Zuckerberg fired Anduril founder Palmer Luckey for supporting Donald Trump:
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has announced a partnership with defense firm Anduril to develop a line of rugged helmets, glasses, and wearables that provide VR and AR technology for the U.S. Army. The collaboration marks a significant shift in Meta’s stance on defense work and brings together two unlikely partners: a social media giant often scrutinized by the federal government and a rising star in the Pentagon’s vendor list, led by Palmer Luckey, who Mark Zuckerberg once fired over politics.
The new system, named EagleEye, will feature sensors that enhance soldiers’ hearing and vision, allowing them to detect drones from miles away or identify hidden targets. Additionally, the devices will enable soldiers to operate and interact with AI-powered weapon systems. The technology will be underpinned by Anduril’s autonomy software and Meta’s AI models.
This partnership is particularly noteworthy given the history between Meta and Anduril’s founder, Palmer Luckey. Luckey, who founded Oculus VR at age 15, became a billionaire when Facebook (now Meta) acquired his company in 2014. However, Zuckerberg fired Luckey in 2017 following the 2016 election. Luckey’s support for Donald Trump and his enthusiasm for building lethal tech for the military made him an anomaly in Silicon Valley at the time.
While some tech executives and engineers wrestle with the potential harms of this shift, others see it as necessary and urgent. Vice President JD Vance, a former venture capitalist who once invested in Anduril, said at a summit hosted by Andreessen Horowitz, “We shouldn’t be fearful of productive new technologies, in fact we should seek to dominate them.”
Read more at the New York Times here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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