OpenAI selected for $100M Pentagon drone swarm competition

OpenAI has partnered with two defense technology firms selected by the Pentagon to compete in a $100 million US military challenge to develop voice-controlled drone swarm software, according to a Bloomberg report.

The competition, launched in January by the Defense Innovation Unit and Special Operations Command’s Defense Autonomous Warfare Group, seeks prototypes capable of directing autonomous drone swarms through spoken commands.

OpenAI’s role is limited to translating battlefield voice instructions into digital commands for unmanned systems. Its technology will not control drones, integrate weapons, or hold targeting authority, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company did not submit its own bid and described its involvement as limited, providing only open source versions of its models.

The six-month contest will proceed in phases, starting with software development before advancing to live testing. Later stages envision multi-domain coordination across air and sea systems, with mission execution elements the Pentagon says could affect system lethality and effectiveness.

The effort marks a broader expansion of OpenAI’s defense ties. This week, the Pentagon announced a separate arrangement to make ChatGPT available to roughly 3 million Defense Department personnel.

Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman has previously said the company does not expect to develop AI-enabled weapons platforms in the foreseeable future, though he has not ruled it out.