Michael C. Horowitz

Pentagon looks to unleash ‘military drone dominance’ U.S. defense chief Pete Hegseth has ordered the military to fast-track the adoption of a boosted number of small drones deployed across the force.

PWH Faculty Director @mchorowitz.bsky.social is quoted in this @japantimes.co.jp piece about the Pentagon's use of drones in the military. Read more: www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/07...

Did Big Tech just outfox the China hawks?

To read the latest on the White House's position on Nvidia and AMD's sales of chips to China, read this @politico.com piece with a quote from PWH Faculty Director @mchorowitz.bsky.social: www.politico.com/newsletters/...

AI, Autonomous Weapon Systems, and the Future of Warfare with Dr. Michael C. Horowitz, University of Pennsylvania | Squaring the Circle

Listen to PWH Faculty Director @mchorowitz.bsky.social on the Squaring the Circle podcast, discussing AI, autonomous weapon systems, and the future of warfare. 🎧Listen here: shows.acast.com/squaring-the...

Is the U.S. Ready for the Next War? With global conflicts increasingly shaped by drones and A.I., the American military risks losing its dominance.

PWH Faculty Director @mchorowitz.bsky.social is quoted in this @newyorker.com piece: “Ukraine has shown us that in future wars we have to expect that data links with all sorts of platforms and systems will be severed. Autonomy lets you solve that issue.” Read more: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Will Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful’ Defense Spending Last? Trump’s signature legislation will push defense spending past $1 trillion, with new funding for innovation and other capabilities. But those investments are at risk of becoming one-off acquisitions w…

🚀🇺🇸 Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill" adds $150B in defense $. It could accelerate emerging tech adoption to stay ahead of China + bolster nuclear deterrence...or not. Learn more in latest from me, @dumbacher.bsky.social, @laurenakahn.bsky.social for @cfr.org www.cfr.org/expert-brief...

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Is the Wrong Framework for AI Governance | AI Frontiers Michael C. Horowitz, Jun 27, 2025 — Placing AI in a nuclear framework inflates expectations and distracts from practical, sector-specific governance.

AI governance and policy needs to start from the assumption that, as a general purpose technology, AI tech WILL diffuse - the analogy to the control paradigm of nuclear tech won't work! See my recent piece w/ @laurenakahn.bsky.social in @aifrontiers.bsky.social ai-frontiers.org/articles/nuc...

What Drones Can—and Cannot—Do on the Battlefield The Pentagon should learn from Israel and Ukraine.

How can the United States prepare for the future of warfare? Read the latest by @mchorowitz.bsky.social, @laurenakahn.bsky.social, and CMIST’s @joshschwartz.bsky.social in @foreignaffairs.com on how the U.S. can adapt to the changing nature of war www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

What Drones Can—and Cannot—Do on the Battlefield The Pentagon should learn from Israel and Ukraine.

What does the Israel-Iran War / Russia-Ukraine War suggest about emerging tech and the future of warfare? Excited to have a new @foreignaffairs.com article w/ @mchorowitz.bsky.social + @laurenakahn.bsky.social on how to bring balance to the (military) force www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

What Drones Can—and Cannot—Do on the Battlefield The Pentagon should learn from Israel and Ukraine.

“If the Pentagon does not adjust to the new realities of warfare, it will lose the ability to deter adversaries’ aggression before it occurs—and perhaps the ability to win wars,” warn @mchorowitz.bsky.social‬, @laurenakahn.bsky.social, and @joshschwartz.bsky.social.

What Drones Can—and Cannot—Do on the Battlefield The Pentagon should learn from Israel and Ukraine.

"If the Pentagon does not adjust to the new realities of warfare, it will lose the ability to deter adversaries’ aggression before it occurs" write @mchorowitz.bsky.social, @laurenakahn.bsky.social, & @joshschwartz.bsky.social in @foreignaffairs.com. Read here:
www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

Yes. Plus the IAEA has credibility because of its inspections, which would be nearly impossible to replicate for AI.

We should resist the temptation to use the nuclear age and non-proliferation regime as the basis for #AI policy. It's different tech and the approach won't be effective. My latest with @laurenakahn.bsky.social ⬇️

Fixing the Pentagon’s Broken Innovation Pipeline The Pentagon’s outdated budget process is stifling innovation and must be reformed to outpace rising threats. The views in this article are those of the authors alone and do not represent those of the...

"The DoD’s budget and acquisition processes are broken in ways that jeopardize the military’s ability to deter and defeat major global threats, especially from China," write @mchorowitz.bsky.social and @laurenakahn.bsky.social in this piece for National Interest: nationalinterest.org/blog/techlan...

Why does it feel like the Pentagon keeps doing innovation wrong + how can we fix it? Latest with @laurenakahn.bsky.social tackles these key questions! Check it out! ⬇️⬇️⬇️

At the risk of losing all my friends and embarrassing my future self if this all goes badly, as it well may, I’m going on record to say attacking Fordow was the right thing to do. Based on the following.

Following news breaking that the Trump administration is reviewing a trilateral agreement between the U.S., Australia, and the UK, PWH Faculty Director @mchorowitz.bsky.social shared his insight from working on the agreement during his time at the Pentagon: perryworldhouse.upenn.edu/news-and-ins...

These Are the Lethal Autonomous Weapons That Terrify the U.S. Military AI-powered drones are already transforming warfare—and the U.S. is in a high-stakes battle to catch up with Russia and China before it’s too late.

PWH Faculty Director @mchorowitz.bsky.social
shares his insights on the age of precise mass and the use of AI in the military in this Popular Mechanics piece: www.popularmechanics.com/military/wea...

These Are the Lethal Autonomous Weapons That Terrify the U.S. Military AI-powered drones are already transforming warfare—and the U.S. is in a high-stakes battle to catch up with Russia and China before it’s too late.

Thoughts from me here in Popular Mechanics on how the era of precise mass in war means AI-enabled strike is increasingly accessible and deadly... www.popularmechanics.com/military/wea...

Check it out!

Ukraine’s Operation Spider Web Shows Future of Drone Warfare Ukraine said it had used 117 drones to target airfields deep in Russian territory. The daring attack demonstrated low-cost precision strikes accessible to almost any state or militant group.

Want to know how Ukraine’s drone attack inside Russia worked and could affect the future of warfare? Read our senior fellow @mchorowitz.bsky.social’s analysis @cfr.org. www.cfr.org/expert-brief...

Autonomous Weapon Systems: No Human-in-the-Loop Required, and Other Myths Dispelled - War on the Rocks References by Pentagon officials, the think tank world, and various world leaders to autonomous weapon systems often cite a U.S. military policy

In a new piece for @warontherocks.bsky.social , PWH Director @mchorowitz.bsky.social dispels myths about U.S. policy on autonomous weapons, using insight from his time in the Pentagon where his team rewrote the directive on autonomy in weapon systems. Read more: warontherocks.com/2025/05/auto...

Autonomous Weapon Systems: No Human-in-the-Loop Required, and Other Myths Dispelled - War on the Rocks References by Pentagon officials, the think tank world, and various world leaders to autonomous weapon systems often cite a U.S. military policy

Time to do some myth busting about autonomous weapon systems. Most important- it is time to stop talking about whether there is a human in the loop. warontherocks.com/2025/05/auto... @warontherocks.bsky.social

Under the Nuclear Shadow China's Deterrence Playbook

PWH director @mchorowitz.bsky.social and PWH faculty fellow @fiona-cunningham.bsky.social are featured on @jordanschneider.bsky.social's China Talk about Cunningham's new book, Under the Nuclear Shadow: China’s Information-Age Weapons in International Security.
🎧: www.chinatalk.media/p/chinas-nuc...

Rules of Engagement

Check out this Penn Gazette profile on PWH Director @mchorowitz.bsky.social about his return to PWH, and his time as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for force development and emerging capabilities. Read here: thepenngazette.com/rules-of-eng...

Great profile of @mchorowitz.bsky.social and his work at PWH!

What America Gets Wrong About the AI Race Winning means deploying, not just developing, the best technology.

Super excited to share my latest piece, co-authored with Radha Plumb, in @foreignaffairs.com @cfr.org , on the US-China race in artificial intelligence (AI) and the best approach for the United States! More details: www.linkedin.com/posts/michae... and a link: www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

Serving in the Pentagon has been the absolute honor and privilege of my… | Lauren Kahn Serving in the Pentagon has been the absolute honor and privilege of my lifetime. I have just wrapped my year as an IPA as a Policy Advisor for Force Development and Emerging Capabilities (FDEC) in th...

Serving in the Pentagon has been the absolute honor and privilege of my lifetime. I’m especially grateful to the civil servants and members of the armed forces whose dedication to mission shaped my experience and set the standard for public service.

What America Gets Wrong About the AI Race Winning means deploying, not just developing, the best technology.

"To preserve the U.S. lead in AI, then, the U.S. government needs to supercharge the adoption of AI across the military, federal agencies, and the wider economy." write PWH's @mchorowitz.bsky.social & PWH Visiting Fellow Radha Plumb in @foreignaffairs.com: www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

Are we on the verge of a new Iran nuclear deal? Read why I’m not optimistic - although I wish I could be! - courtesy of our @perryworldhouse.bsky.social workshop (spoiler alert: I’m still in search of the new Ernie Moniz)

Beyond 'branding': AUKUS nations look to outside partners for Pillar II tech - Breaking Defense “The reality is, we're already doing AUKUS Pillar II stuff with many of our allies and partners,” Vice Adm. Rob Gaucher, the US Navy’s top submariner, said.

“The goal of AUKUS Pillar II is to foster advanced defense capability cooperation between the partner nations so existing cooperation will be the right place to start in some cases,” explains PWH Faculty Director @mchorowitz.bsky.social in @breakingdefense.com. Read: