About this episode
This year, the Department of Defense announced that they’d entered agreements with eight artificial intelligence companies. It follows decades of popular media exploring the idea of artificial intelligence in war – from the computer threatening global thermonuclear conflict in the movie WarGames to the Skynet neural net in Terminator. In 2026, when Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s ChatGPT are just a click away, the concept of AI-supported war is suddenly much closer to reality. So what does it really mean for militaries to use AI? And what are the potential implications if they succeed? Short Wave producer Hannah Chinn reports.
Listen to the whole Tech Camp series.
Interested in more military science and/or tech episodes? Email us your question at [email protected].
Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
Listen to the whole Tech Camp series.
Interested in more military science and/or tech episodes? Email us your question at [email protected].
Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
Get every episode summarized
Each time Short Wave publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
Hosts & guests
No transcript yet
This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.
More episodes
More from Short Wave
A new investigation shows heat is even deadlier than we thought
Short Wave
Sep 4, 202614:45completed
The science of emotional regulation — and how to do it better
Short Wave
Sep 2, 202612:29pending
What can seashells teach us about the health of our oceans?
Short Wave
Sep 1, 202613:10pending
Football is here – and so is a new study on CTE
Short Wave
Aug 31, 202615:01pending