Defense AI video startup Airis Labs emerges from stealth after securing $31 million in a Series B funding round led by PSG Equity, signaling surging investor confidence in AI-driven military and defense technology solutions.
Pope Leo XIV issues a landmark 44,000-word encyclical demanding a ban on lethal AI weapons, limits on Big Tech power, and protections for children online, framing AI development as a defining moral crossroads between profit-driven dominance and human dignity — with even Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah attending the Vatican presentation and endorsing broader societal voices in AI governance.
The Pentagon awards Meta-backed Scale AI a massive $500 million contract to power military decision-making with artificial intelligence, a five-fold jump from its previous $100 million deal, as the US military rapidly expands its AI capabilities beyond the limits of its original agreement.
The Pentagon signs AI deployment deals with Google, OpenAI, and five other tech giants for classified military networks while keeping Anthropic blacklisted as a supply chain risk, though Anthropic's advanced Mythos AI model raises separate national security concerns that could open the door to a potential future deal.
The White House is reversing course on Anthropic, developing guidance to allow federal agencies to adopt its powerful AI model Mythos despite a prior security risk designation, even as a core dispute with the Pentagon over military and surveillance use remains unresolved.
The White House is drafting a sweeping AI policy memo requiring national security agencies to use multiple AI vendors, while also mandating that AI companies contracting with the Pentagon commit to not interfering with the military's chain of command.
Google grants the Pentagon unrestricted AI access for classified networks, including non-binding restrictions on mass surveillance and autonomous weapons, sparking backlash from 950 employees demanding stronger protections after Anthropic's refusal to offer similar terms triggered a DoD lawsuit.
Hundreds of Google employees are demanding CEO Sundar Pichai block the Pentagon from using the company's AI for classified military work, igniting a fierce public debate over the ethics of military AI contracts just months after rival Anthropic was dropped by the Defense Department for making a similar request.
OpenAI strikes a landmark Pentagon deal deploying advanced AI in classified environments, banning autonomous weapons, mass domestic surveillance, and high-stakes automated decisions, while retaining full safety control and the right to terminate the contract if violations occur.
Palantir releases a bold 22-point manifesto defending AI weapons development and Western military dominance, arguing Silicon Valley has a moral obligation to the nation that enabled its success, while critics warn the document represents the dangerous public ideology of a company that directly profits from the very defense and immigration enforcement policies it champions.