In a striking revelation that has sent ripples through defense circles and beyond, a senior Pentagon official recently disclosed a bold shift in the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD) priorities:
moving away from vague investments in “artificial intelligence” and instead pouring resources into the development of “autonomous killer robots.”
This statement, reported by Futurism on February 23, 2025, underscores a pivot from research-heavy funding models to the rapid acquisition of tangible, lethal AI-powered weaponry—a move that has ignited both intrigue and alarm.
Speaking anonymously to Defense One, the official clarified the Pentagon’s new direction, stating, “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.”
This blunt admission, also highlighted by Yahoo News in its coverage of the same interview, signals a departure from the DOD’s previous hesitancy to embrace lethal autonomous weapons (LAWs) fully.
The official emphasized that the current administration prioritizes “weapon systems and business systems” over nebulous “technologies,” a stance that aligns with a broader push to streamline military acquisitions.
The Washington Post, in a 2021 piece exploring the Pentagon’s growing reliance on AI, foreshadowed this trend, noting that the U.S. military has long been integrating artificial intelligence into its strategy to maintain global dominance.
However, the recent comments mark a more explicit commitment to machines capable of independently selecting and engaging targets.
The New York Times, in a November 2023 article on the global race for AI-driven warfare, reported that the U.S., alongside nations like China, is advancing technologies that could soon make such “killer robots” a battlefield reality—despite resistance from some countries advocating for legal limits at the United Nations.
This shift isn’t just rhetorical. According to Futurism and Yahoo News, a second Pentagon official outlined a new business model designed to offload research costs onto the private sector.
“We’re trying to change a business model from ‘the government pays $100 million for research and builds a prototype’ to more of ‘us paying a couple million dollars and industry pays $98 million and then they build a prototype,'” the official explained.
This approach, aimed at accelerating the delivery of advanced weaponry, reflects a pragmatic urgency to outpace adversaries—a sentiment echoed in a 2023 Forbes report on the Pentagon’s updated autonomy directives, which hinted at a willingness to loosen constraints on AI weapon development.
