Does Military AI Research at Universities ‘Benefit Humanity’?

Published on January 31, 2024

A silhouette of a military drone that looks like an airplane. The silhouette is set against a light blue sky with white clouds. A serviceperson standing beneath the rear of the drone, is also silhouetted.

The Pentagon articulates a research focus that includes lethality. But universities that receive military funding often welcome the money with expressions of pride and altruism—and scant mention of the potential for harm.

The United States Army Futures Command is at work modernizing weapons and equipment and identifying, acquiring and developing next-generation military technologies. It is “the best example of our commitment to the future lethality of the force” and “probably one of the boldest reforms” the Army has pursued, Secretary of the Army (later Secretary of Defense) Mark Esper told Congress in 2018. The command makes its home not on an Army base but on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. That choice was by design.

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