Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is secretly growing his military startup, White Stork, which will produce AI attack drones.
According to Forbes, the new firm aims to mass-produce drones to identify targets.
Schmidt quit as CEO at the tech giant in 2011, although he was still a chairman until 2015.
From 2016, he became chairman of the Department of Defense's Innovation Board for four years.
Other relevant CV details include being the chairman of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.
Schmidt has critcised the US military's hesitance in using modern technology, and insisted the likes of AI could prove invaluable.
He told Wired: "Einstein wrote a letter to Roosevelt in the 1930s saying that there is this new technology — nuclear weapons — that could change war, which it clearly did. I would argue that [AI-powered] autonomy and decentralised, distributed systems are that powerful."
Schmidt also previously insisted the rollout of AI technology will not lead to lots of people losing their jobs.
Speaking to the BBC, he explained: "There will be some jobs eliminated but the vast majority will be augmented.
"You're going to have more doctors not fewer. More lawyers, not fewer. More teachers not fewer. But they are going to be more efficient."
