OpenAI signs deal with Palmer Luckey’s Anduril to develop military AI

OpenAI has partnered with defense startup Anduril Industries to develop AI for the Pentagon. The companies said on Wednesday that they’ll combine OpenAI’s models, including GPT-4o and OpenAI o1, with Anduril’s systems and software to improve the US military’s defenses against unpiloted aerial attacks.

The deal comes less than a year after OpenAI softened its stance on using its models for military purposes. Although the ChatGPT maker’s policies still prohibit its models from developing or using weapons, it deleted a line in January that explicitly banned integrating its tech into “military and warfare” use. The company said at the time it was already working with DARPA on cybersecurity tools. In October, the company hired a former Palantir security officer and was reportedly pitching its products to the US military and national security establishment.

An OpenAI spokesperson told The Washington Post that the deal complies with the company’s rules because it focuses on systems that defend against pilotless aerial threats. The company said the partnership doesn’t cover other uses.

According to The Washington Post, the OpenAI-Anduril partnership will aim to improve the latter’s tech for detecting and shooting down drones threatening the US military and its allies. The Pentagon already buys Anduril’s Roadrunner drone interceptor (pictured above) to help counter the rise of smaller drones on the world’s battlefields. The startup sells sentry towers, comms jammers, military drones and an autonomous submarine, among other projects.

The companies framed the partnership as a way to defend US military personnel and counter China’s advancing AI. “Our partnership with OpenAI will allow us to utilize their world-class expertise in artificial intelligence to address urgent Air Defense capability gaps across the world,” Anduril CEO Brian Schimpf wrote in a statement. “Together, we are committed to developing responsible solutions that enable military and intelligence operators to make faster, more accurate decisions in high-pressure situations.”

Anduril was co-founded by Oculus Rift inventor (and Oculus VR co-founder) Palmer Luckey. That headset laid the foundation for the Meta Quest lineup, which today holds the lion’s share of the VR and AR market. Luckey left Meta (then Facebook) in 2017, months after news broke that he donated $10,000 to a group aiming to post 4chan-style anti-Hillary Clinton memes on roadside billboards.

“OpenAI builds AI to benefit as many people as possible, and supports U.S.-led efforts to ensure the technology upholds democratic values,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in a statement. “Our partnership with Anduril will help ensure OpenAI technology protects U.S. military personnel, and will help the national security community understand and responsibly use this technology to keep our citizens safe and free.”