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An Anduril Industries Sentry surveillance tower
An Anduril Industries Sentry surveillance tower (Simon Wohlfahrt/Getty Images)

OpenAI strikes deal with Anduril to bring its AI to the battlefield

12/4/24 4:44PM

Since the Biden administration gave the all clear for AI to be used in national security and defense, AI companies have been tripping over each other to announce their pivot to military applications.

In November, Palantir partnered with Anthropic to bring its Claude AI models to national-security applications via Amazon’s AWS cloud computing platform.

Not to be left out of the rush to embed AI systems into battlefield defense and weapons systems, today OpenAI and defense contractor Anduril Industries announced a partnership that runs counter to a previous public policy about how OpenAI would allow its technology to be used.

In January, OpenAI quietly changed the language of its usage policy, removing a section that disallowed “Activity that has high risk of physical harm, including: Weapons development; Military and warfare.”

“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,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in the press release.

In a press release announcing the new partnership, Anduril said that OpenAI’s GPT-4o and OpenAI o1 models would be used in drone defense systems to identify airborne threats. The press release said:

“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 Industries was founded by Palmer Luckey, founder and CEO of virtual-reality headset company Oculus, which was sold to Meta in 2014 for $2 billion.

Meta has also been pursuing national-security and defense contracts for its Llama 3 AI model.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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The DOJ is suing Uber, alleging the company discriminates against passengers with disabilities

The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Uber on Thursday, alleging that the company routinely and illegally discriminates against passengers with physical disabilities.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, alleges that Uber’s drivers regularly refuse service to passengers with service animals and stowable wheelchairs. Some passengers are charged cleaning fees for service animals and cancellation fees after being refused a ride, the lawsuit alleges. According to the complaint, others are insulted or denied requests like sitting in the front seat due to mobility issues.

“Ubers discriminatory conduct has caused significant economic, emotional, and physical harm to individuals with disabilities,” the lawsuit reads.

A survey last year by the organization Guide Dogs for the Blind found that more than 83% of people who are blind or visually impaired said they’ve been denied ride-share service.

In a statement to Bloomberg, Uber disagreed with the lawsuit, saying it has a “zero-tolerance policy for confirmed service denials.”

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Draft Senate bill gives AI companies a two-year pass on federal regulation, Bloomberg reports

Bloomberg reports that a draft bill from Senator Ted Cruz would give AI companies a two-year pass from any federal regulation when they apply to be part of a White House-controlled “regulatory sandbox.” Such a regulatory framework frees participating companies from federal agency oversight while simultaneously handing President Trump broad powers to shape a still nascent and increasingly powerful industry.

The draft bill allows companies approved for the waiver to request renewals for up to eight years, according to the report.

The fast-moving generative-AI boom that took the tech world by storm was kicked off by the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT less than three years ago. A potential decade free of federal regulations would be a huge win for companies like Meta, Google, OpenAI, and Amazon.

In July, the US Senate voted 99-1 to kill a planned provision from President Trump’s massive tax bill that would have prevented any state from regulating AI for 10 years.

The fast-moving generative-AI boom that took the tech world by storm was kicked off by the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT less than three years ago. A potential decade free of federal regulations would be a huge win for companies like Meta, Google, OpenAI, and Amazon.

In July, the US Senate voted 99-1 to kill a planned provision from President Trump’s massive tax bill that would have prevented any state from regulating AI for 10 years.

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Airbus faces a 10-day strike from UK workers, mirroring Boeing’s labor strife

Thousands of UK union Airbus workers plan to strike for 10 days in September amid a contract dispute.

The union workers build wings for Airbus’ commercial jets, threatening a production slowdown for the European plane maker.

As Airbus’ labor tension builds, rival Boeing’s has already boiled over: earlier this month, more than 3,000 Boeing workers who build military aircraft started a strike that remains ongoing. The action came less than a year after the company faced a two-month stoppage from a machinist strike.

Airbus, for now, says it doesn’t see the strikes affecting full-year deliveries.

As Airbus’ labor tension builds, rival Boeing’s has already boiled over: earlier this month, more than 3,000 Boeing workers who build military aircraft started a strike that remains ongoing. The action came less than a year after the company faced a two-month stoppage from a machinist strike.

Airbus, for now, says it doesn’t see the strikes affecting full-year deliveries.

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