Palantir receives a $480 million contract from the US Army for an artificial intelligence project

That contract was announced Wednesday as part of the Defense Department’s daily contract announcements. Palantir says on its website that its solutions are used in almost every military mission. Project Maven uses data from various sources to identify military targets and accelerate the work of intelligence analysts. The technology includes data from radar systems, infrared sensors and geolocation tags from smartphones and social networks believed to belong to enemy combatants.

Palantir has been cooperating with the Pentagon for many years. New computer vision algorithms have helped locate launchers in Yemen and vessels on the surface of the Red Sea, and have helped pinpoint targets for strikes in Iraq and Syria. Israel has confirmed the use of artificial intelligence for targeting recommendations in Gaza, and Ukraine is using the software to defend against a Russian invasion. Some analysts claim that China is ahead of the United States in the development of military systems with artificial intelligence.

The use of artificial intelligence to identify targets has sparked controversy in the technology sector. However, Palantir quickly replaced Google in this project, and it is actively expanding. The US recently said that international law does not require human control over autonomous weapons.