Palantir and Anduril, two major defense technology companies, today announced the creation of an industry consortium to address what they see as barriers to the Department of Defense’s adoption of AI.

“Our goal is to provide the technology infrastructure, from the edge to the enterprise, that can enable our government and industry partners to transform America’s advances in artificial intelligence into new military and national security capabilities. generation,” the companies said in a joint agreement Friday. statement.

Both companies are key players in the Pentagon’s AI and software ecosystem. Palantir builds platforms to analyze and distill data and Anduril develops a range of advanced hardware and software systems focused largely on autonomy and AI.

Companies are associated on Army Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node program, an integrated AI-defined targeting system that is expected to begin fielding over the next two years.

Palantir also provides the core software enabling the Army’s data platform that helps leaders across the force provide global visibility and support rapid decision-making – a contract that it has held since 2017. The Army uses it for unit preparation, combat power management, logistics and installations. and even recruitment.

Anduril, for its part, supplies equipment and software for the Pentagon’s Replicator initiativewhich aims to deploy thousands of small networked drones by next August.

For this new partnership, the companies will leverage existing product lines, including Palantir’s AI Platform, AIP and Anduril’s Menace, a software-defined command and control system.

The goal is to address two key issues they say are hindering the U.S. military’s adoption of AI: data availability and the lack of a secure pipeline to evolve the Army’s AI models. industry.

To address the second issue, the team plans to use AIP to provide a cloud-based data management capability capable of delivering AI data at all classification levels. They also plan to combine Palantir’s Maven intelligent system with Anduril’s Lattice software to provide “a seamless operational capability” to develop and implement new AI tools across the defense enterprise.

“This platform is already in place and used by Anduril and Palantir for their own purposes, and with government contracts that allow this work to begin immediately,” the companies said.

The plan is to eventually expand the partnership to include more companies.

The news of the consortium comes amid announcements of several other industry collaborations involving the two companies. Anduril said Thursday it would team up with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT use AI algorithms to improve military counter-drone capabilities.

And Palantir announced today that it is partnering with Booz Allen Hamilton to advance defense innovation among America’s allies. This partnership focuses on modernizing defense infrastructure and using data-centric tools to improve collaboration between partner countries.

Meanwhile, two US senators this week, introduced legislation This calls on the Department of Defense to put in place safeguards to maintain competition for major technology development programs.

The bill — championed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. — targets the DOD’s AI and cloud computing programs, portfolios that it says are dominated by a handful of Silicon Valley companies.

“Right now, all our eggs are in one giant Silicon Valley basket. Not only does it stifle innovation, it costs more and significantly increases our security risks,” Warren said in a statement. “Our new bill will ensure that as the Department of Defense continues to expand its use of AI and cloud computing tools, it will strike great deals that will keep our information secure and resilient. our government.”

Specific provisions in the bill include a requirement that DOD hold an open competition for any AI or data integration programs with annual contracts worth at least $50 million.

It would also direct the Pentagon’s Office of Digital and AI to ensure that all government data used to create or operate military AI tools is secure and protected, particularly if stored with vendor data .

Land warfare reporter Jen Judson contributed to this story.