Pentagon officials reveal in startling admission the push for 'autonomous killer robots'

The Pentagon is moving toward investing in autonomous killer robots and less in artificial intelligence, according to a senior Pentagon official who spoke to Defense One under anonymity.

2

In a recent interview, the Pentagon official revealed the possibility of a shake-up of internal offices that will involve combining parts of several innovation-fostering offices to form a new office that focuses solely on purchasing cutting-edge products from companies. Notably, the official said the Pentagon is looking to spend less on research and more on tangible arms and gear, such as weapons systems and business systems.

Additionally, an unnamed Pentagon official said there's currently work being done to shift the "business model" of the Pentagon from the government paying, for example, $100 million for the research and a company building a prototype to the Pentagon paying $2 million less and the company building the prototype. Essentially, the Pentagon wants to shift the research and development costs onto the private sector, or in this case, defense contractors.

"This [Trump] administration cares about weapon systems and business systems and not 'technologies,'" the official said. "We're not going to be investing in 'artificial intelligence' because I don't know what that means. We're going to invest in autonomous killer robots."

"As the Department looks ahead toward accelerating the delivery of the most lethal, advanced technologies and capabilities to our warfighters, we are examining our current structure to best determine how to align our efforts to achieve maximum effect and efficiency, and to build from the successes of organizations like DIU in bringing commercial technologies to warfighters in the Services and Combatant Commands. Those discussions are in the early stages, and no decisions have been made," said one defense official