The Silicon Valley venture capitalists who want to move fast and break things in the defence industry [Video]

I’m a propagandist, I’ll twist the truth, I’ll put forward only my version of it if I think that’s going to propagandise people to believe what I need them to believe.

This is not a soundbite from a particularly ebullient moment in the hit television show Mad Men. These words were uttered by Palmer Luckey, the CEO of Silicon Valley’s hottest military technology startup. Luckey’s company, Anduril Industries, specialises in artificial intelligence-enabled systems, including autonomous weapon systems. With a valuation of US$14 billion, Anduril is one of the darlings of the defence startup scene and its newly emerging venture capital (VC) ecosystem where big promises, big bets and a tendency toward propaganda are a staple necessary for success.

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into defence programmes, let alone weapon systems, remains controversial. The UK Artificial Intelligence in Weapon Systems Committee has urged cautionover procurement processes for AI-enabled weapons, yet – as is …