SpaceX will participate in the US Department of Defense's autonomous drone technology competition.

Elon Musk's SpaceX and its wholly-owned subsidiary xAI are participating in a new secret competition by the US Department of Defense to develop speech control and autonomous drone swarm technology. Musk announced in early February that these two companies will be merging. The move of these two Musk-owned companies into the new field of artificial intelligence weapons development marks a controversial new step for Musk. Despite SpaceX being a mature defense contractor and Musk himself being passionate about advancing artificial intelligence, he has publicly opposed "building new tools for killing." Sources say that Musk's companies are among the few selected for a challenge launched in January with a prize of up to $100 million. The participation of SpaceX and xAI has not been reported before. The six-month competition aims to develop advanced swarm technology that can convert voice commands into digital commands and control multiple drones.