The United States Department of Defense will employ AI agents to simulate conflicts with foreign adversaries. To this end, the Defense Innovation Unit has signed a contract with Scale AI.
Excited to lead one of the DoD’s flagship AI programs, Thunderforge, with @DIU_x.
It will be the flagship program within the DoD for AI-based military planning & operations.
We’ll be working alongside our partners from @microsoft @anduriltech & @google. pic.twitter.com/oJ8Ue4wSb8
— Alexandr Wang (@alexandr_wang) March 5, 2025
As part of the collaboration, the development of the AI platform Thunderforge is planned, aimed at enhancing decision-making efficiency on the battlefield.
This marks the first attempt by the Department of Defense to integrate AI agents into military processes to assist commanders, according to the announcement from Scale AI.
The project will be implemented in collaboration with Anduril and Microsoft. The former will integrate large language models (LLM) from Scale AI into its Lattice simulation infrastructure to improve mission planning. Bill Gates’ corporation will provide advanced LLM technology to create a “cutting-edge multimodal solution.”
“This contract is a significant milestone in the development of military affairs. The integration of artificial intelligence will allow the country to advance through the combination of technology and critical human thinking,” the Scale AI announcement stated.
Initially, Thunderforge will be launched within the US Indo-Pacific Command and the US European Command.
In January, OpenAI signed an agreement with US National Laboratories to apply the startup’s AI models in nuclear weapons research.
Previously, Meta opened its technologies to US government agencies and defense contractors, as well as allies. Following suit, Anthropic did the same.