Pentagon

 Artificial intelligence employed by the U.S. military has piloted pint-sized surveillance drones in special operations forces' missions and helped Ukraine in its war against Russia. It tracks soldiers' fitness, predicts when Air Force planes need maintenance, and helps keep tabs on rivals in space.Now, the Pentagon is intent on fielding multiple thousands of relatively inexpensive, expendable AI-enabled autonomous vehicles by 2026 to keep pace with China. The ambitious initiative — dubbed Replicator — seeks to…

Artificial intelligence employed by the U.S. military has piloted pint-sized surveillance drones in special operations forces' missions and helped Ukraine in its war against Russia. It tracks soldiers' fitness, predicts when Air Force planes need maintenance and helps keep tabs on rivals in space.Now, the Pentagon is intent on fielding multiple thousands of relatively inexpensive, expendable AI-enabled autonomous vehicles by 2026 to keep pace with China. The ambitious initiative - dubbed Replicator - seeks to "galvanize…

An artistic rendering of a space nuclear reactor system designed to produce high-power electricity.Illustration: LANLLockheed Martin is at the early stages of developing a nuclear propulsion system to power a spacecraft through the depths of the cosmos.What Inspired Dominic Monaghan's Performance in Moriarty?Under a $33.7 million contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Lockheed Martin announced that it was in the “preliminary design review stage” of the Joint Emergent Technology Supplying On-Orbit Nuclear…

The military potential of AI has, however, emerged as a key sticking point in an increasingly tangled relationship between China and the US. Many policymakers view the technology as a crucial way for the US to gain an edge over its rival. This potential is a key reason why the US has sought to limit China’s access to advanced semiconductors is to hamper its ability to harness the technology for military ends.Policymakers who advocate for military adoption of AI also acknowledge that the technology may bring a range of new…

Vice President Harris announced during her speech in London that the declaration has now been signed by US-aligned nations that include the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, and France. The 31 signatories do not include China or Russia, which alongside the US are seen as leaders in the development of autonomous weapons systems. China did join with the US in signing a declaration on the risks posed by AI as part of the AI Safety Summit coordinated by the British government.Deadly AutomationTalk of military AI often evokes…

The United States military is not the unrivaled force it once was, but Alexandr Wang, CEO of startup Scale AI, told a congressional committee last week that it could establish a new advantage by harnessing artificial intelligence.“We have the largest fleet of military hardware in the world,” Wang told the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technology and Innovation. “If we can properly set up and instrument this data that’s being generated ... then we can create a pretty insurmountable data advantage…

Differentiating whether the picture you are seeing is AI-created or real has been a tough task since the past few months. In fact, chances are that many of us may have been fooled by AI-generated content in the last few months. However, it seems that the days of this deception may be numbered. For, a coalition of technology giants and startups have pledged to watermark content produced by AI.Seven leading AI companies in the United States have agreed to voluntary safeguards on the technology’s development, pledging to…

Sen. Tom Cotton claimed on Fox News that the policy, introduced after Roe v. Wade was overturned, is "unlawful." Sen. Tom Cotton (R-NE) on Sunday shrugged off questions about his opposition to the Pentagon paying for service members to travel to receive an abortion, smearing the policy as unlawful “abortion tourism” and insisting that women should just use some their allotted time off. On Fox News Sunday, Cotton was asked about Republicans in the House on Thursday adding several…

WASHINGTON —  The Pentagon said Tuesday that it overestimated the value of the weapons it has sent to Ukraine by $6.2 billion over the last two years — about double earlier estimates — resulting in a surplus that will be used for future security packages.Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said a detailed review of the accounting error found that the military services used replacement costs rather than the book value of equipment that was pulled from Pentagon stocks and sent to Ukraine. She said final calculations show…

Daniel Ellsberg, the defense analyst whose unauthorized release of the top-secret Pentagon Papers triggered court battles over freedom of the press and led to calamity for the presidency of Richard M. Nixon, has died. One of America’s most famous whistleblowers, Ellsberg died Friday at his home in Kensington, Calif., his family said his death in a statement to the New York Times. He was 92. The cause was pancreatic cancer, his wife and children said in the statement.Ellsberg became both a public enemy and a folk hero in…