Defense Tech Shouldn’t Be Sexy

The yassification of killing robots makes me queasy. 

Last week, Anduril, a prominent defense technology startup valued at $8.5B, announced that it had acquired the “Fury” line of autonomous airplanes. Think of the plane as a Roomba that can fly, substituting its vacuum for missiles. While the product is not yet deployed, the acquisition was clearly done with the hope of selling these machines by the hundreds. 

In my naivety, I expected the tech community to have some reservations. After all, these planes are powered by an AI technology whose sole purpose is slaughter. 

Instead, X was full of comments showering the announcement with adoration. A sampling of real tweets:

“This makes me so horny”

“*laughs in American asymmetric advantage*”

“This is beautiful. I love the military industrial complex so much.”

I do not want to paint with a broad brush. The dialogue around Silicon Valley’s relationship with the military almost always devolves into tribal warfare, with little space for nuance. My family has a history of military service, and my father-in-law was in the Air Force. Additionally, I’ve argued for years about the power of technology to pull society forward. Ultimately, I feel that war and the technology that supports it are sometimes necessary, but always complicated.

The hyperbole starts with the marketing: the Fury aircraft launch could’ve been ripped from the latest iPhone event. The landing page brags about “reduced emissions.” There is a slick YouTube video with sensual, slow-mo shots of the product. Brand advocates hyped up the product to their followers. For anyone who has read a software marketing blog or two, it was clear that Anduril was following a playbook that is battle-tested in Silicon Valley. 

Image source: Fury launch page

Beyond Anduril, there appears to be a cognitive dissonance about what the defense sector does. Defense tech isn’t building weapons designed to more efficiently kill people—it is supporting “American Dynamism.” Venture capitalists who engage in lobbying aren’t throwing parties for the military-industrial complex; they’re “one of the leading voices” who just so happen to have hundreds of millions in capital. I personally have received outreach from multiple funds asking for help spinning up content around why they are good partners for defense technology companies. Everyone wants a piece of the murder money pie. 

Let me be clear: it’s morally bankrupt to view defense as an exciting market. This sector is not bald eagles and Abraham Lincoln riding a grizzly bear. It is death and pain and blood soaking into the mud. Defense technology should be a sober, honest affair. Instead, some in Silicon Valley view it as a vaguely nationalistic way to make billions of dollars.