The U.S. Department of Defense has granted eight major tech companies, including Google, OpenAI, Nvidia, and Microsoft, certification to deploy advanced artificial intelligence directly on classified military networks. David Bennett on Bitcoin And reports the systems are cleared for Impact Levels 6 and 7, covering secret and highly restricted national security intelligence. This marks a formal shift to an “AI-first” fighting force.
Over 1.3 million military personnel have already generated tens of millions of prompts to deploy AI agents. The Pentagon claims this grants “decision superiority,” but Bennett warns the military’s increasing use of the term “warfighters” strips humanity from soldiers, suggesting a battlefield where autonomous machines and human operators are interchangeable.
“The military and its tech partners are increasingly using the term ‘warfighters’ - a descriptor that strips away the humanity of soldiers.”
- David Bennett, Bitcoin And
The move comes with an ultimatum. As reported in The Intelligence from The Economist, when the AI lab Anthropic stipulated its models could not be used for autonomous weapons or mass surveillance, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth blacklisted the company as a supply chain risk. Other firms are leaning in: Palantir is already using Anthropic’s Claude models for classified military activity despite the lab’s public ban, and SpaceX acquired Elon Musk’s xAI specifically for Pentagon work.
Venture capital is flooding into defense tech startups, or “neoprimes,” like Anduril and Palantir, which are seizing market share from legacy contractors. Anduril recently consolidated various Army contracts into a single deal worth up to $20 billion over a decade. Henry Trix, The Economist’s US technology editor, notes this represents a fundamental restructuring of how the Pentagon buys power, favoring software and autonomy over heavy hardware.
Political ties threaten the historically bipartisan defense sector. Donald Trump Jr. is a partner at 1789 Capital, a firm invested in Anduril, and the former President publicly defended Palantir against short-sellers. This overt alignment, Trix argues, risks turning defense procurement into a partisan wedge, jeopardizing the long-term funding stability these tech firms require.
Colonel Lawrence Wilkinson, speaking on The Tucker Carlson Show, provided a strategic backdrop, arguing the U.S. is bombing Chinese-built railroads in Iran to sabotage land routes that bypass U.S. naval chokepoints. He contends the broader financial war aims to preserve the dollar’s weaponized status. Within this tense climate, the race to weaponize AI accelerates, with the Pentagon offering network access as the ultimate incentive for corporate cooperation.
“The Trump administration is stacked with ‘Silicon Valley types’ who have personal and financial stakes in the neoprimes.”
- Henry Trix, The Intelligence from The Economist
