The New Republic – Edith Olmsted / June 15, 2025 Buyer’s Market The AI Industry Is Ready to Get Rich off Trump’s Defense Department This year’s annual AI Expo for National Competitiveness was a hidden race to turn the military into “Ender’s Game.” “We have been bad to partner with, we have been a bad customer. We are—we have created many of the bad habits in our industry partners that we don’t like today,” Driscoll said, grinning through his apology on behalf of the Army. He later emphasized that the Army would need to “earn the right” to do business with for-profit companies by creating “clear demand signals” and “pathways to profitability.” Beside him on the stage was General Randy George, the Army’s chief of staff, who had his own parting message. George explained that he wanted help from companies to formulate a pitch on the government’s embrace of “agile funding” for autonomous technology.
My letter to reps:
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll needs to be investigated. He made public comments that his first interest was using Army procurement to satisfy the needs of vendor profitability. That’s not how government is supposed to work, the taxpayers are not just some asset to be handed over to some business to make money, and the Army should exist solely for the protection of the American people, not making some business owner rich.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose for your own letters to reps.
There are 2 separate issues, so I split them up into 2 different letters, because of the way that representatives offices classify letters from constituents.
My letter to reps:
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll needs to be investigated. A lot of this AI stuff is shoddy and doesn’t work as advertised, yet Driscoll is talking about buying this tech simply to make the Army a better “partner” and “customer” to private industries selling this stuff so they could be more profitable. Taxpayer money shouldn’t be used to prop up the failing profitability of some business, and that’s sure what it sounds like. It sounds like more and more people, especially the people in the biz, know this AI stuff is a faulty product and comes with huge price tags for little benefit, and the industry players are just casting about for someone to bail them out. It shouldn’t be the taxpayers. And even more seriously lives are in danger if the implementation of shoddy tech will put Americans, and especially Army soldiers, at risk.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose for your own letters to reps.