Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Is A Defence Contractor Now, Partners With Anduril For AI-Powered Products

Facebook and Instagram parent Meta has teamed up with defence startup, Anduril Industries, to develop military products that use artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR). The military devices are expected to provide real-time battlefield intelligence to soldiers in the field, allowing them to make better decisions based on data, according to a CBS News report.

"Meta has spent the last decade building AI and AR to enable the computing platform of the future. We're proud to partner with Anduril to help bring these technologies to the American servicemembers that protect our interests at home and abroad," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in the release.

The collaboration would see Meta's AR and AI tech fusing with Anduril's data analytics platform ‘Lattice', into products such as glasses, goggles and visors.

Palmer Luckey, 32, the brain behind Anduril, has previously worked with Meta. He joined the social media company in 2014 when it was still known as Facebook, following the acquisition of Oculus, a virtual reality headset business that he founded.

Anduril in a statement said the company was working Meta to "design, build, and field a range of integrated XR (extended reality) products that provide warfighters with enhanced perception and enable intuitive control of autonomous platforms on the battlefield”.

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Meta AI and military

This is not the first instance when the Zuckerberg-owned company has hinted at its hard pivot towards defence and military-related programmes. In November last year, the company announced that US government agencies and contractors working on national security will get hold of the latest Llama 3 model.

The company said it was playing its part in ensuring the safety and security of the United States by working with the likes of Lockheed Martin, IBM, Amazon, Microsoft and Oracle among others to make Llama available to the government.

"As an American company, and one that owes its success in no small part to the entrepreneurial spirit and democratic values the United States upholds, Meta wants to play its part to support the safety, security and economic prosperity of America - and of its closest allies too," the company said.

With the collaboration, the US military intends to use the power of AI to streamline logistics and track terrorist financing, as well as strengthen cyber defence.