--- title: "Senior Pentagon Official: New Plan Is to Invest in “Autonomous Killer Robots”" description: "In a shocking admission, a senior defense official is laying bare the Pentagon's priorities when it comes to building killer robots. " date: "2025-02-23" modified: "2025-02-23" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/pentagon-plan-killer-robots" categories: - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "killer robots" - "Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems" - "military tech" - "Pentagon" --- # Senior Pentagon Official: New Plan Is to Invest in “Autonomous Killer Robots” ![In a shocking admission, a senior defense official is laying bare the Pentagon's priorities when it comes to building killer robots. ]() *\Image: Tang Chhin Sothy / AFP via Getty / Futurism\* In a startling admission, a senior defense official is laying bare the Pentagon's accelerating interest in autonomous killer robots. Speaking [to *Defense One*](), which didn't print the official's name so that they could speak freely, that official said that the Pentagon is looking to move away from funding research on the topic and investing in actual AI-powered weaponry instead. "We're not going to be investing in 'artificial intelligence' because I don’t know what that means," the official told the website. "We're going to invest in autonomous killer robots." "This administration cares about weapon systems and business systems," they added, "and not 'technologies.'" That kind of big talk is perfectly fine for policy wonk types, but when it comes to the dollars and cents, another official said that there's an incoming shift that offloads costs onto the private sector. "We're trying to change a business model from 'the government pays $100 million for research and \[the company\] builds a prototype' to more of 'us paying a couple million dollars and industry pays $98 million and then they build a prototype,'" the second Pentagon official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, told *Defense One*. "As the \[Department of Defense\] looks ahead toward accelerating the delivery of the most lethal, advanced technologies and capabilities to our warfighters," they continued, "we are examining our current structure to best determine how to align our efforts to achieve maximum effect and efficiency." Translation: the DOD wants to streamline its acquisitions so it can get autonomous killer robots as fast as possible. While the military has [quietly commissioned research]() and [some ground testing]() with these so-called "lethal autonomous weapons" or LAWs, the Pentagon has been slow to fully embrace killer robots because, basically, [they freak everyone out](). According to the first official, this new acquisition process will be overseen by a new office they characterized as the "commercial-engineering version of \[the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency\]" that will siphon workers from other research and development departments within the Pentagon. Though the Trump administration is obviously opening the door for the DOD to do what it wants with killer robots, we have Joe Biden's administration to thank for paving the road to this decision. Back in 2023, the Pentagon updated its then-decade-old [rule about LAWs]() as it raced to embrace artificial intelligence, and set up a chain of custody for the development and deployment that essentially just requires the signatures of increasingly senior officials. Notably, it did so in defiance of the United Nations' [years-long push]() to ban LAWs outright. With our loyalty-obsessed president placing his cronies at the head of every federal agency, there's little doubt that the people hired for those senior roles will also be in lockstep with whatever decisions the higher-ups make. As such, we may well see the US military commissioning and deploying killer robots within the next four years. **More on military priorities:** [*Pentagon Official Boasts That AI Is Helping The Military Kill People Faster Than Ever Before*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()