Silicon Valley tech booms amid Middle East conflict
Sheera Frenkel
As the war in the Middle East continues, the intelligence collected by the Pentagon is analyzed through a system operated by data analytics company Palantir, with technology from artificial intelligence company Anthropic.
Created by a defense technology startup in Arizona, drones have emerged as a key part of the United States’ war arsenal. And anti-drone systems produced by a California start-up have been deployed to protect American forces in the region.
Silicon Valley took risky bets In recent years, it has focused on developing defense-related technologies and providing services to the US military establishment. Now those bets are paying off. From giants providing data systems to smaller companies offering new weapons, tech firms like Google, Palantir and OpenAI have found their way into the fold. At the center of the US war effort.
Their central role is the “I told you so” moment. For years, the tech industry’s efforts at defense-related proposals have faced skepticism and opposition, with no clear or immediate commercial rewards. Many engineers in Silicon Valley opposed the use of powerful technologies for killing, warfare and other military purposes, and those concerns remain.
Despite these fears, venture capital firms have poured billions of dollars into start-ups building drones, lasers and other military systems since the 2010s. Andreessen Horowitz, the company founded by entrepreneurs Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, closed a new fund of almost US$1.2 billion ($1.7 billion) in January to invest in defense technologies.
In recent years, defense technology start-ups have often moved forward with weapons prototypes before landing formal government contracts. At the same time, executives, including Palantir CEO Alex Karp, began to engage more with the government.
As president, Joe Biden welcomed military technology, and Donald Trump further embraced it. Last year, Trump issues executive order He called on the military to update its technology acquisition system so it can incorporate new tools more quickly. Last year’s domestic policy bill allocated $1 trillion for defense in 2026, including technologies offered by defense technology firms.
Now the war has amplified this work and likely led to more business between the tech industry and the military.
This month, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman agreed to move his company’s artificial intelligence systems into the Pentagon’s secret networks. Google has signed a deal to bring artificial intelligence bots known as “spies” to the US Department of Defense. On Friday, the US Army announced an award to defense technology company Anduril. $20 billion deal for artificial intelligence-supported software will work on military systems.
“People point to this moment as a proof point,” said Garrett Smith, a former lieutenant colonel and CEO of Reveal Technologies, which makes mapping technology for the military.
‘I wouldn’t be surprised if this is called America’s first AI war.’
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan
“This showed us that we were on the right track in creating and selling these technologies to the U.S. military. We made the right investments.”
Pentagon officials said they are excited about how well new technologies, such as artificial intelligence-related systems, are performing in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. The battle was a turning point in demonstrating how modern technology could work with existing military systems, said two officers who were not authorized to speak publicly.
Jack Shanahan, a retired air force lieutenant general who led the Pentagon’s efforts to incorporate artificial intelligence during the Biden administration, said the war will accelerate the adoption of more technology. He expects legacy and modern systems to merge together with more powerful artificial intelligence in the next decade.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if this is called America’s first AI war,” Shanahan said.
But Amos Toh, a senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, a New York nonprofit focused on law and public policy, warned that this enthusiastic attitude could lead to little oversight of new systems and over-reliance on just a few tech companies. Toh said the military and government need to “take a look at the dependencies it has created.”
OpenAI, Google and the Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment. (New York Times He filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoftaccuses them of violating the copyright of news content related to artificial intelligence systems. The two companies denied these claims.)
Project Maven, an AI-powered system built by Palantir for the Pentagon, is a prominent example of modern technology in warfare. Maven works by layering Palantir’s data systems with Anthropic’s AI technology. Anthropic’s systems analyze real-time data about battles and other combat scenarios, while Palantir’s technology draws conclusions about which targets to hit.
Air strikes hit more than 2,000 targets in Iran in the first four days of the war. Most of the targets were selected from a list Maven created after analyzing information from drones, satellite images and other sources.
on thursday, Palantir’s Karp said in a CNBC interview: artificial intelligence was giving US forces an advantage. Shares of Palantir have risen more than 12 percent since the start of the war.
“Our enemies and adversaries are witnessing our ability to fight, which they do not have, and it will be very difficult for them to achieve it,” he said. “America is the center of the artificial intelligence revolution.” Palantir and Anthropic declined to comment.
Technologies of start-up companies in the field of defense are also used. A system that uses drones against other drones, called Merops, developed as a startup project by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, has become effective in protecting US assets during conflict. Small enough to be launched from the back of a pickup truck, the system uses artificial intelligence to detect and stop drones before they reach their targets.
Schmidt’s office declined to comment.
Small, lightweight drones called LUCAS (low-cost uncrewed combat strike system) from SpektreWorks, a start-up in Phoenix, were also deployed on the battlefield. LUCAS drones Iran’s Shahed imitates dronesDesigned for one-way flights. A US official said they were effective in overwhelming missile defense shields and engaging in drone warfare, which first became popular in Ukraine.
SpektreWorks declined to comment on its work with the Pentagon.
This month, U.S. Central Command released images of rows of unmanned aerial vehicles preparing to be sent to U.S. forces.
“I would like to point out that these unmanned aerial vehicles are actually of Iranian design,” Central Command Chief Admiral Brad Cooper said. “We took them back to America, made them better, and kicked them right back out.”
This article was first published on: New York Times.
The Market Summary newsletter is a summary of the day’s transactions. Let’s each take ittoday afternoon.
