News briefing 13-24 January 2025

In one of his first major announcements as U.S. President this week, Donald Trump announced ‘Stargate’: a $500 billion AI infrastructure project to be funded jointly by OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank, which will be ‘geared towards building essential data centers and computing infrastructure for the development of artificial intelligence.’ Meanwhile, Trump has revoked a 2023 executive order signed by former President Biden, that ‘required developers of AI systems that pose risks to U.S. national security, the economy, public health or safety to share the results of safety tests with the U.S. government, in line with the Defense Production Act, before they were released to the public.’ This comes in the same week that it was revealed that Microsoft has ‘deepened its ties’ with the Israeli military, with Microsoft ‘frequently tasked with working on sensitive and highly classified projects, and with its staff also ‘working closely with the IDF’s intelligence directorate, including its elite surveillance division, Unit 8200’. Meanwhile, Google ‘raced to beat Amazon to sell AI tools to the Israel Defense Forces.’ Also this month, the U.S.-based AI military start-up – and autonomous weapons developer – Anduril announced that it is building a new $1 billion factory in Ohio, that could ‘eventually produce tens of thousands of autonomous systems and weapons each year.’ Anduril is closely connected to the Trump administration: it is ‘woven into the network of tech leaders who supported his campaign and won appointments to his administration’, with Trump’s new ‘White House AI czar’ a significant investor in the company. Similarly, the new U.S. Vice President JD Vance invested in Anduril in his previous career as a venture capitalist. Late last year, Anduril unveiled its Bolt-M UAV, which it claims has ‘onboard software to automate the flight behaviors required to accurately track and strike a target’.  

As Elke Schwarz notes in her recent piece for The Conversation on the links between venture capital and military AI, ‘In Silicon Valley the “move fast and break things” motto implies that problems that arise in the roll out of the tech can always be addressed and solved later. In the world of defence and war, the harm produced by this kind of risk-taking cannot so easily be undone.’ While many of the military AI tools mentioned above may be considered as ‘administrative’ in function and are not autonomous weapons systems, these and similar systems raise significant moral, ethical and legal concerns. The direction of travel for military AI use is startlingly clear. It’s long past time for the international community to take the necessary steps to create new international law  to address autonomous weapons. States must recognise the urgent need for meaningful human control  and for prohibitions on antipersonnel autonomous weapons. We’re now in 2025: the onus is on governments of all countries to heed the call of the UN Secretary-General and the ICRC President ahead of 2026.

Autonomy in weapons systems, and AI in security and defence

• International: Revealed: Microsoft deepened ties with Israeli military to provide tech support during Gaza war: Leaked documents reveal that Microsoft significantly increased its support for the Israeli military during the Gaza war, providing cloud and AI technology to enhance operational capabilities.
• International: Google reportedly worked directly with Israel’s military on AI tools: Google reportedly collaborated with the Israeli military shortly after the Gaza Strip ground invasion, aiming to provide AI tools and compete with Amazon. ‘Anna Kowalczyk, the external communications manager for Google Cloud, told The Verge in April 2024. “This work is not directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services,” Kowalczyk said. Despite claims of no military collaboration, evidence suggests Google’s significant engagement with Israel’s military during a conflict.
• US: A.I. Military Start-Up Anduril Plans $1 Billion Factory in Ohio: Military AI start-up Anudril plans to build a $1 billion factory in Ohio. The Register reports that it is ‘intended to produce tens of thousands of autonomous military systems a year’, and ‘will use a common set of equipment that can quickly switch between products as the defense industry demands them.’ Previous news briefing entries on Anduril can be found here.
• US: Cheap, smart, deadly. The tech industry pitches a new way to wage war: A Washington Post feature on Anduril  notes that ‘Anduril’s investors and Palantir connections provide close links to Vance, Trump’s “crypto and AI czar” David Sacks and the president’s self-declared “first buddy” Elon Musk.’
• US: Silicon Valley defence start-up Shield AI hits $5bn valuation: The AI start-up Shield AI will ‘nearly double its valuation to $5 billion’ in its latest fundraising round, ‘raising about 200 million from ‘defence and aerospace companies set to include Palantir, Airbus and L3 Harris, according to people close to the deal. Venture capitalists including Andreessen Horowitz, Point72 Ventures and Riot Ventures are also expected to participate, they added.’ Previous news briefing coverage of Shield AI can be found here. 
• Academic paper: From blitzkrieg to blitzscaling: Assessing the impact of venture capital dynamics on military norms: This research paper by Dr Elke Schwarz, Professor at Queen Mary University of London, argues that the ‘venture capital sector exerts a significant influence not only on military procurement processes but also on the direction of military operations and practices.’ Calling for close scrutiny of the motivations and intentions behind venture capital, Dr Schwarz cautions that ‘defence departments and military organisations have a duty to resist the AI hype and take their time thinking through the implications of fashioning themselves too closely after Silicon Valley and its ethos.’ The Conversation also features a short article and a podcast based on the academic paper. 
• US: The Pentagon says AI is speeding up its ‘kill chain’: This piece in TechCruch features an interview with the Pentagon’s chief digital and AI officer, Dr. Radha Plumb, on the incorporation of AI into the military. Dr. Plumb refers to AI in the military as a ‘significant advantage’ in ‘identifying, tracking, and assessing threats.’  She also claims that ‘as a matter of both reliability and ethics, we’ll always have humans involved in the decision to employ force, and that includes for our weapon systems.’ To date, the United States refuses to support the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems. 
• International: Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg Named “Arms Control Person of the Year”: The 2024 “Arms Control Person of the Year” award went to Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg and the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their efforts to convene the Vienna Conference and regulate autonomous weapons systems. The U.S.-based Arms Control Association, which bestows the prize every year, honors people or organizations that have significantly advanced disarmament. The conference’s main topics were the necessity of laws in armed conflicts as well as the ethical, legal, and security issues surrounding autonomous weapons systems.
• International: Israel built an ‘AI factory’ for war. It unleashed it in Gaza: Years before the Gaza war, Israel transformed its intelligence unit into an AI testing ground, triggering a debate among top commanders about whether humans were sufficiently in the loop. The decade-long program to place advanced AI tools at the center of IDF’s intelligence operations has contributed to the violence of Israel’s 14-month war in Gaza. Some internal critics argue the AI program has been a behind-the-scenes force accelerating the death toll in Gaza, ‘which has claimed 45,000 lives.’
• UK: British AI startup with government ties is developing tech for military drones: British AI startup Faculty AI develops technology for military drones while also working with the UK government on AI safety and ethical guidelines amidst rising concerns about autonomous weapons. ‘Many experts and politicians have called for caution before introducing more autonomous technologies into the military.’
• UK: UK Defence Committee urges MoD to embrace AI: The Defense Committee, in the UK house of commons, has released a report on ‘Developing AI capacity and expertise in UK defence.’ ComputerWeekly reports that the report highlights the need for improvement in ‘digital infrastructure, data management and the AI skills base’ while being cautious of the ‘rhetoric versus reality’ of AI capabilities. 
• Iran: Iran Unveils ‘Razvan’ Kamikaze Drone With 20-Kilometer Range: The Defense Post reports on ‘Razvan’, a new drone unveiled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) at a recent military exercise. The loitering munition can reach a range of 20 kms, can remain airborne for 20 minutes, and is equipped with electro-optical and infrared cameras. These features reportedly allow it to ‘select, lock onto, and attack a target.’ 

AI, algorithms and autonomy in the wider world

• International: ‘Just the start’: X’s new AI software driving online racist abuse, experts warn: This piece by the Guardian reports on Grok, X’s generative artificial intelligence chatbot being used to create and spread racial hate content on X. Signify, an organisation that works with prominent groups and clubs in sports to track and report online hate, has flagged the Grok’s latest update to photorealistic image generation on the basis of user prompts has led to a snowballing of hate content. 
• US: Tech giants are putting $500bn into ‘Stargate’ to build up AI in US: A new project named ‘Stargate’ was recently unveiled at the White House by President Donald Trump to build AI infrastructure in the US, reports BBC. Stargate is a teaming up of OpenAI ‘with US tech giant Oracle, Japan’s Softbank – led by Masayoshi Son – and MGX, a tech investment arm of the United Arab Emirates government’ to build $ 500 Billion over the next four years.  
• US: Trump revokes Biden executive order on addressing AI risks: Reuters reports that, in line with calls at the 2024 Republican Party platform, US President Donald Trump has revoked the 2023 executive order on AI risks to consumers, workers and national security. The executive order required Ai companies to assess risks of their algorithms to ‘U.S. national security, the economy, public health or safety’ and share results on safety tests with the US Government. 
• UK: ‘It’s a nightmare’: couriers mystified by the algorithms that control their jobs: The Guardian reports on the rising frustration among gig workers at food delivery apps, who are being subjected to algorithmic decisions that are opaque and offer little redress. The extent of these decisions range from errors in facial recognition software to access the app, assignment of work, and alleged identification of wrongful practice by gig workers. 

Facial recognition, biometric identification, surveillance

• International: Inside the Black Box of Predictive Travel Surveillance: Wired sheds light on the extent of surveillance on international travellers, and how this data is being by AI companies to create and promote softwares that supposedly profile passengers to detect ‘terrorists, human traffickers, drug dealers, serious criminals, missing persons and increasingly, people migrating without papers.’ Anna Bacciarelli, a senior researcher in the Technology, Rights and Investigations Division at Human Rights Watch has raised concern on the blackbox related to privacy and passenger redress in case of unfair targeting. 
• US: Border Technologies Under Trump 2.0: Writing for Just Security, Petra Molnar expresses concern over ‘companies and governments increasingly developing and deploying unregulated technologies to manage migration.’ The day after Donald Trump’s reelection, shares in private prison companies rose, indicating plans to expand facilities for detainees awaiting deportation and increase surveillance and AI technologies. Digital technology has become vital to migration management, with tools like algorithms for visa processing and drones for surveillance. These technologies often violate human rights, such as privacy rights and protections against discrimination. 
• France/ EU: France spearheads member state campaign to dilute European AI regulation: This piece in Investigate Europe talks of France’s role in influencing discussions on the EU AI Act. While initial drafts exempted military surveillance and applications of AI from the scope of this act, France reportedly lobbied for the exemption to include the use of these tools by law enforcement for the purposes of national security. A source of worry is the possible use of live AI surveillance of people in public spaces by law enforcement, other countries and even the private sector.

Regulation and Enforcement

Other Items

• Event: Events Invitation: War Without Oversight: In Conversation with Paddy Walker and Elke Schwarz: The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) is organising this event where Elke Schwarz will be in conversation with Paddy Walker’s on his new book, ‘War Without Oversight: Why We Need Humans on the Battlefield.’ The discussion will include ‘ethical, policy and operational implications of enhanced human-machine interaction on the battlefield, and the vital importance of human oversight.’ This event is open to RUSI members and will take place at RUSI, 61 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET. If you have any questions regarding this event, please email rusievents@rusi.org.