Why business is booming for military AI startups

Militaries are responding to the call. NATO announced on June 30 that it is creating a $1 billion innovation fund that will invest in early-stage startups and venture capital funds developing "priority" technologies such as artificial intelligence, big-data processing, and automation. Since the war started, the UK has launched a new AI strategy specifically for defense, and the Germans have earmarked just under half a billion for research and artificial intelligence within a $100 billion cash injection to the military. "War is a catalyst for change," says Kenneth Payne, who leads defense studies research at King's College London and is the author of the book I, Warbot: The Dawn of Artificially Intelligent Conflict. The war in Ukraine has added urgency to the drive to push more AI tools onto the battlefield.