Anduril founder Palmer Luckey warns: China's AI deployment speed far exceeds that of the United States

Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril Industries, which recently secured a $20 billion framework contract with the U.S. Army, warned in an Axios Show interview that America’s lead in AI competition is “extremely small,” and China is deploying AI across industries at a much faster pace than the U.S… He also supports the Pentagon’s decision to list Anthropic as a supply chain risk, emphasizing that “private companies should not have more military decision-making power than the President.”
(Background: Trump plans to ban Anthropic entirely! Refusing to modify Claude’s “kill switch,” unexpectedly supporting OpenAI.)
(Additional context: The Spring Festival Gala has turned into an AI parade battlefield. Why has China gained the final advantage in the US-China computing power race?)

In the interview, Luckey stated that the U.S. is “extremely small” in its lead in AI, far less secure than many think. He warned that China is “doing very well” at distilling American AI models and leveraging open-source results, and is deploying AI technology into every corner of government and industry at a pace far exceeding the U.S… He believes China has a “structural advantage” in pushing AI into practical applications and is maximizing these advantages.

Simply put, the U.S. may be temporarily leading in cutting-edge model development, but China is running much faster in applying AI.

The U.S. Government’s AI Gap Is Severe

Luckey cited the federal government as an example, pointing out a huge internal disparity. He said the Pentagon is the leading department in AI application, currently “massively and effectively” using AI in Iran operations, but other departments like Agriculture and Education are far behind, almost still at the starting line.

This “defense moves fastest, other departments are stagnant” situation vividly illustrates the gap in AI deployment speed between the U.S. and China.

On the hardware front, Anduril’s Arsenal-1 weapons manufacturing plant in Ohio, covering 5 million square feet, will begin production in a few weeks, ahead of schedule. This plant is a key step in Anduril’s transformation from a software company into an integrated defense contractor with both hardware and software capabilities.

Supporting the Pentagon’s Ban on Anthropic, the Next Battlefront is Underground Space

When asked about the Pentagon listing Anthropic as a supply chain risk, Luckey clearly expressed support for the Department of Defense’s tough stance. He stated, “Private executives should not have more military decision-making power than the U.S. President.” He directly responded to the controversy over Anthropic’s refusal to relax restrictions on using Claude in military scenarios. In Luckey’s view, national security cannot be hostage to any tech company’s policies.

As for future battlefields, Luckey gave an unexpected answer: underground. He believes that underground combat will become a focus before space does, followed by the Moon. This hints that Anduril may already have plans in the area of underground reconnaissance and autonomous systems.

This high-profile interview comes shortly after Anduril secured a $20 billion enterprise-level procurement contract with the U.S. Army, covering AI command and control platform Lattice, along with supporting hardware, data infrastructure, and technical support. The first confirmed order is $87 million, intended for counter-UAV command and control.