According to a Bloomberg News report citing people familiar with the matter, SpaceX and its wholly owned unit xAI are among a select group of organizations taking part in a confidential Pentagon contest to develop voice-controlled, autonomous drone swarming technology. The companies and the Defense Department's innovation arm did not immediately provide comments, and the report could not be independently verified.
The competition, which sources say was launched in January, is structured as a prize challenge with a $100 million purse. It is scheduled to run for six months and seeks systems capable of converting spoken instructions into digital commands and operating multiple drones in coordinated fashion. The objective is specifically described as producing advanced swarming technology that can translate voice commands into machine-executable directives and manage multi-drone operations.
SpaceX, based in Texas, recently integrated xAI in an acquisition that combined the space and defense contractor with the entrepreneur's artificial intelligence startup. That corporate move occurred ahead of SpaceX's planned initial public offering this year. Bloomberg's account indicates the two entities are among a narrow field selected to participate in the Pentagon's challenge.
The report also notes broader Department of Defense activity in artificial intelligence. OpenAI, Alphabet's Google, Anthropic and xAI secured contracts last year worth up to $200 million each to help scale advanced AI capabilities within the Pentagon. Separately, the U.S. Defense Secretary last year outlined a strategy intended to accelerate both development and deployment of drones by reducing bureaucracy and encouraging domestic manufacturing.
Concerns around drone safety and countermeasures are a related driver of Pentagon interest. The U.S. has been searching for safe, cost-effective methods to neutralize unauthorized drones, especially around airports and at large public gatherings. That concern has been flagged as more urgent in advance of high-profile events cited in reporting, including the FIFA World Cup and the America250 anniversary activities scheduled for this summer.
The report recalls that Elon Musk was among a group of AI and robotics researchers who in 2015 signed an open letter advocating a worldwide ban on "offensive autonomous weapons," arguing against the creation of "new tools for killing people." The inclusion of that historical position in the reporting highlights the ethical and policy tensions that accompany efforts to develop autonomous systems that could be used in defense contexts.
While the Bloomberg account places SpaceX and xAI in the contest, Reuters noted it could not confirm the participation independently, and no immediate responses were available from the companies or the Pentagon innovation unit cited in the reporting.