OpenAI and drone maker Anduril join forces: ‘America needs to win’

Artificial intelligence market leader OpenAI and drone maker Anduril are forming a partnership to create new tools to help the U.S. military thwart attacks from drones and other aerial devices. 

Anduril announced the national security-focused partnership on Wednesday, writing on X, “America needs to win.”

“The Anduril and OpenAI strategic partnership will focus on improving the nation’s counter-unmanned aircraft systems (CUAS) and their ability to detect, assess and respond to potentially lethal aerial threats in real-time,” Anduril said on its website. “As part of the new initiative, Anduril and OpenAI will explore how leading-edge AI models can be leveraged to rapidly synthesize time-sensitive data, reduce the burden on human operators, and improve situational awareness.” 

The models that the companies develop will be trained on Anduril’s data on drone operations and threats. 

The two California-based companies cited the AI race between America and China as a motivating factor in their partnership. Anduril said the new effort “aims to ensure that the U.S. Department of Defense and intelligence community have access to the most advanced, effective, and safe AI-driven technologies available in the world.”

“Our partnership with Anduril will help ensure OpenAI technology protects U.S. military personnel, and will help the national security community understand and responsibly use this technology to keep our citizens safe and free,” said Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, in a statement shared by Anduril. 

Mr. Altman is promoting the idea that AI is going to take a major leap forward in technological prowess in the near future. In September, Mr. Altman wrote on his blog that “superintelligence” could emerge within a few years.

In 2025, Mr. Altman expects the AI industry to provide new tools for consumers beyond chatbots. Speaking at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit on Wednesday, he said to expect AI agents that can accomplish tasks for humans. 

“I expect that in 2025 we will have systems that people look at — even people who are skeptical of current progress — and say, ‘Wow, that, I did not expect that,’” Mr. Altman said at the summit. 

OpenAI’s partnership with Anduril follows on the heels of AI maker Anthropic and software giant Palantir’s collaboration with Amazon to provide services to national security officials. The partnership enables America’s spy agencies and military officials to process data using Anthropic’s Claude models. 

The Department of Defense and intelligence community are both undergoing AI makeovers. 

The military is working to field thousands of autonomous drones by August 2025 as part of its ambitious Replicator program, and is straining to combat threats from small unmanned aircraft systems.  

The intelligence community is augmenting its analytical capabilities with new AI tools. Last year, Booz Allen Hamilton’s Patrick Biltgen said he foresaw U.S. spies using AI similar to how Tony Stark relied upon the AI character J.A.R.V.I.S. in the superhero story “Iron Man.”

Anduril and OpenAI say they want to ensure that America has the tools it needs to triumph in a tech race with China. 

“The accelerating race between the United States and China to lead the world in advancing AI makes this a pivotal moment,” Anduril said on its website. “If the United States cedes ground, we risk losing the technological edge that has underpinned our national security for decades.”