Pentagon AI project using machine learning to analyze drone footage and automatically identify objects, vehicles, and persons of interest. Serves as algorithmic warfare targeting backbone.
Project Maven was initially awarded to Google in 2017, but Google withdrew after 4,000 employees signed a petition objecting to involvement in weapons development. The contract subsequently moved to Palantir, which has become the primary AI targeting contractor for the US military. Maven's computer vision algorithms can process imagery from a wide range of platforms including satellites, aircraft, and ground sensors to build comprehensive target profiles in near real-time.
Deployed in Middle East operations; Google withdrew in 2018 after employee protests; Palantir now primary contractor
Palantir Technologies (PLTR) is the primary publicly traded beneficiary, having displaced Google as the lead Maven contractor and expanded the program significantly. NVIDIA (NVDA) provides GPU hardware for inference workloads.