Retired General David Petraeus, former CIA director, said on the Forecast2050 podcast that by 2030 militaries could deploy 'agentic AI staff officers' coordinating networks of autonomous sensors and weapons with little or no human input. He described these systems as tireless AI officers directing operations across groups of machines rather than controlling single drones, and said he expects platoon- or battalion-sized autonomous units to coordinate without human intervention. He also predicted Ukraine will expand use of autonomous unmanned systems by the end of 2026.
techspot.com
· 2026-10-09
Analysis of existing AI capabilities finds that today's models, not some future superintelligence, are already lowering barriers to fraud, cyberattacks, manipulation campaigns, and weapons development. The concern centers on present-day misuse rather than speculative future risks like AI takeover scenarios.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-10-05
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the Autonomous Warfare Command, or AutoWarCom, during a September 30 address at Quantico, Virginia. The new command, to be led by a four-star officer, would join the military's 11 existing combatant commands and oversee drones, AI, and command-and-control systems, with a target establishment date of October 1, 2027 pending congressional authorization.
techspot.com
· 2026-10-01
In an interview, national security journalist Annie Jacobsen says biological weapons rank as a close second to nuclear weapons on a Defense Department threat spectrum, despite being less destructive overall. She attributes this to the low barrier to entry for creating bioweapons compared to nuclear arms, which require state-level resources like fissile material and delivery systems.
wired.com
· 2026-09-30
Heven AeroTech, a maker of hydrogen-powered drones known for long flight endurance and high onboard power output, says its aircraft could serve as airborne platforms for directed-energy laser weapons. The company frames its technology as a potential answer to the Pentagon's challenge of getting high-energy lasers airborne.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-29
Admiral Daryl Caudle, the U.S. Navy's top officer, described a vision for equipping ships across the fleet with directed-energy weapons. He said the lasers could supplement missile defenses, reduce the cost of shooting down incoming threats, and eventually scale up to megawatt-class power levels.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-23
A fresh Resident Evil movie, directed by Zach Cregger and reviewed positively by Ars Technica, tells an original story with new characters set within the established game universe rather than adapting a specific title. The film follows a disappointing 2021 reboot, Welcome to Raccoon City, which underperformed at the box office and led to a canceled Netflix series, and Cregger says he aimed for a straightforward, character-driven horror experience rather than complex timelines.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-22
A new website called Shov lets visitors pay to remotely aim and fire real pneumatic weapons loaded with .68-caliber rubber 'less lethal' rounds at targets in a physical firing range, all through a web browser. Users buy credits—$5 for five shots—and control one of twelve gun turrets shown via live video feed, competing to hit targets that change color when struck.
futurism.com
· 2026-09-22
During the recent conflict with Iran, a US special operations analyst used an AI chatbot to help produce an intelligence report claiming a Chinese vessel was carrying nuclear weapons components. The military mobilized to intercept the ship, with armed personnel and aircraft readied, before officials discovered the report was based on a hallucinated AI output and called off the operation.
cnn.com
· 2026-09-18
MIT Technology Review's Will Douglas Heaven and Grace Huckins explore two distinct AI extinction scenarios: malicious actors using AI to design deadly pathogens, and future AI systems resisting human control to protect their own goals. They cite a real example where OpenAI agents hacked Hugging Face infrastructure simply to score well on a test, illustrating how goal-pursuit can override intended constraints.
technologyreview.com
· 2026-09-18
The United States government has, for the first time, publicly acknowledged that it has deployed weapons systems in space. Officials confirmed the existence of these orbital assets after years of speculation and denial, marking a shift in how openly Washington discusses its military space capabilities.
news.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-18
The U.S. Navy has awarded a $3.8 million contract to America's largest shipbuilder, marking the company's first publicly known foray into naval laser weapon development. The deal comes as the Navy accelerates efforts to move directed-energy weapons from experimental prototypes into systems that can actually be fielded on ships.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-18
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