The University of Maryland's RoboScout team just demoed an AI-powered disaster response squad that pairs autonomous drones with Boston Dynamics robot dogs. Drones locate survivors, while a Spot robot uses an onboard LLM to talk to victims, check vitals, and beam triage data straight to medics' phones. It could be a lifesaver when patients drastically outnumber first responders.
DARPA just revealed that an AI-controlled fighter jet successfully went head-to-head against a human pilot in an in-air dogfight. Flying the experimental X-62A against a human-piloted F-16, the two jets reached speeds of 1,200 miles per hour and got within 2,000 feet, with human safety pilots never needing to take back control.
The White House just launched a two-year AI Cyber Challenge to patch vulnerabilities across America's critical infrastructure. Backed by DARPA alongside OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and Microsoft, the competition offers nearly $20 million in prizes for autonomous defense systems. Why it matters: It turns foundation models into frontline shields against real-world cyber threats.
