AI Is Going To War

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Previously titled “AI Strategy for the Department of War: The Memo That Puts LLMs in Charge of the Kill Chain” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 4, 2026

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Recorded03 Apr 2026

Publisheranchor.fm ↗

Handlerec:17579587

Show notes

On January 9th 2026, Pete Hegseth sent a memorandum to every senior official at the Pentagon. It was called "Artificial Intelligence Strategy for the Department of War: Accelerating America's Military AI Dominance."Six weeks later the United States was at war with Iran and AI was identifying targets.Buried inside the bureaucratic language in this memo is a vital conversation about who controls AI, and whether AI makes war more likely or less likely.The DOW make one thing clear: "We must accept that the risks of not moving fast enough outweigh the risks of imperfect alignment."This is pretty important (understatement?), so stick with us to learn: Why AI became the main official US military strategy (China... anyone?) Why Anthropic was designated a US government supply chain risk for asking that their AI not be used for mass surveillance or to automate the kill chainThe automated kill chain: who decides whether a human needs to approve a strike, and what happens when the answer is speedMove fast and break things applied to weapons: what imperfect AI alignment actually meansSwarm Forge, Agent Network and Ender's Foundry: the pace setting projects inside the memo - what are they, and what do they mean?The race the memo is really about: why China is never named and does not need to beAI hallucinations on the battlefield: what happens when a model that gets things wrong is identifying targetsAnd again, the central question: Does AI make war more likely or less likely? Please tell us in the comments.Join us for more Thinking on Paper AI and the war machine.--🎧 Listen to every podcast⁠📺 Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠🏠 Follow us on ⁠X⁠🏠 Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠To suggest guests or sponsor the show, please email: [email protected](00:00) Artificial Intelligence Strategy for the Department of War(00:58) Executive Order 14179: America's AI Military Dominance(01:59) China And AI Arms Race(04:36) Anthropic & Eliminating Bureaucratic Barriers(07:20) The 7 Pace Setting Projects (PSPs) In The Memo(08:28) 100% LLM Kill Chain Capability(10:22) Palmer Luckey(11:53) Intelligence & The AI Open Arsenal(13:57) The War Time Approach To Blockers(16:46) AI Talent Acquisition At The DOW(18:54) We must accept that the risks of not moving fast enough outweigh the risks of imperfect alignment

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.