(Podcast): Silicon Valley’s bet on AI defence startups and what it means for the future of war
In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we speak to Elke Schwarz, who studies the ethics of autonomous weapons systems, about what this influx of new investment means for the future of warfare.
The insertion of AI into the defence industry is now attracting serious amounts of money. In 2024, the global military AI market was worth an estimated US$13.3 (£10.8) billion, with a projected growth to US$35 billion in the next seven years. Elke Schwarz, a reader in political theory at Queen Mary University of London in the UK, has just published new research which identifies that a key driver of the growth in military startup products, such as autonomous drones and other AI-enabled systems, is the influx of huge amounts of investment and influence from venture capital firms.
Venture capitalist investors have traditionally been wary of the defence sector. US military contracts tended to be won by a select few large companies and it was an industry deemed difficult to break into. Schwarz says it also remained “ethically frowned upon” to profiteer from conflict. But these “moral qualms were shifted aside very quickly”, she says, once it looked possible to disrupt the defence sector.