At the age of 19, aspiring entrepreneur, Palmer Luckey, decided to take a break from college to pursue his startup. His company, Oculus VR was a tremendous success and he sold it to Facebook for 2 billion dollars. Luckey transitioned into the defense industry, founding Anduril in 2017, a company that build technology for military agencies and defense. Luckey envisions a change in conventional military power. No longer will military power be dictated by man force, but by the development of technology used for military purposes. Artificial Intelligence will play a major role in the future of warfare. In a world of autonomous drones, the military will not need to risk their soldier’s lives to perform most offensive operations.
Luckey explains that while U.S. is on top of the world right now in terms of military power, China is a real future competitor. China’s government can take whatever technology it wants from its companies and apply it for military purpose. While in the U.S., companies can refuse to work with military, those in China cannot. China’s acquisition of cutting edge military technology is much faster than that of the U.S., giving them an advantage over the U.S. in this area. Possession of the most current and high level IT developments will make its possessors tremendously powerful.
Luckey created his company Anduril with the purpose of integrating cutting edge technology with military operations. In order for America to compete with its adversaries in t
he future, the U.S. should be heavily investing in the development of lethal autonomous systems and other AI applications.
Luckey is able to see the coming transition. Technology will define a company’s power. This is a potential problem because of China’s ability to easily acquire their companies tech could leave the U.S. in the dust. Luckey created his company Anduril and helps the technological advancement of military related systems. This is a defining feature of great entrepreneurs: to find an issue even before occurs and make steps towards helping that issue.
For more information about Anduril, watch this video to hear Luckey himself explain his mission:
That’s really cool that Palmer Luckey created a company from scratch that the US army relies on for military technology. I definitely agree that countries like China are a genuine concern as for as technology goes. Despite Luckey not being a conventional entrepreneur, specifically the field he’s involved in, I think goes to show just how significant dedication is in achieving what you want in life. I wonder how the technology being designed in his company compares to the technology in China.
Palmer Luckey, a name coincidental for someone with success. However his success was no luck but true genius and ability to see beyond the present. His story is inspiring because he is chasing his dreams, ones that ten years ago would seem impossible. His dedication to his beliefs and helping to improve his community via the problems he sees shows the importance of purpose and drive in entrepreneurship.
What you noted about how Luckey was able to see a problem before it even necessarily became a problem is a very good point – his story sounds like it must have been full of potentially risky decisions – for example choosing to bail on college to pursue his company. It’s interesting to think about what his decision making process must be like – and how one can take risks without being foolhardy. Obviously it worked out for him, it’s inspirational and makes me want to live a bit more on the edge.