SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, along with its wholly-owned subsidiary xAI, is participating in a new classified competition organized by the U.S. Department of Defense. The objective is to develop voice-controlled, autonomous drone swarm technology.

Musk announced in early February that the two companies would merge. The entry of these two Musk-affiliated firms into the field of artificial intelligence weapons development marks a controversial new step for the entrepreneur.

Although SpaceX is already an established defense contractor and Musk is a vocal proponent of advancing AI, he has previously expressed public opposition to "creating new tools for killing."

According to informed sources, Musk's companies are among the select few participants in a challenge launched in January, which offers a prize pool of up to $100 million. The involvement of SpaceX and xAI had not been previously reported.

The six-month competition aims to develop advanced swarm technology capable of converting voice commands into digital instructions to control multiple drones simultaneously.