Military technology including AI is developed in response to prize contests
Rachel Kraus June 22, 2018, “The US army will give startups who invent new weapons a cash prize,” MASHABLE, accessed July 2, 2024, https://mashable.com/article/us-army-weapons-innovation-startup-prize
The US army is running a competition that will give startups that create winning new weapons technology a cash prize of up to $200,000. First spotted by Engadget on the government's Challenge.gov website, the program is called xTechSearch and is intended to connect the US army with "nontraditional defense partners," (beyond the mega defense contractors it usually works with).
"The Army wants the innovation community to explore the full ideation space and the art-of-the-possible," the competition description reads. The art of the possible! Wow!
The competition comes at a rocky time for the military's relationship with the tech world. Recently, engineers at Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have been in open revolt against working with the US military and law enforcement agencies, in an effort to live up to driving tech industry principles like "don't be evil." The army's outreach to startups could be the military's attempt to establish a foothold in crucial new technology such as A.I.