Brandon Tseng – Shield AI’s X-BAT: The First AI Fighter Jet to Outsmart Top Gun | SRS #247

Brandon Tseng, co-founder of Shield AI, discusses his journey from Navy SEAL to leading a defense technology company that develops AI pilots for autonomous military aircraft, including the revolutionary vertical takeoff and landing XBAT jet.

• Shield AI's AI pilots enable autonomous military systems to operate without GPS or communications, demonstrating significant battlefield impact.

• The XBAT is a revolutionary AI-piloted VTOL combat jet designed for unmatched maneuverability and strategic deterrence, eliminating reliance on runways.

• Reinforcement learning allows AI systems to continuously improve through simulations, creating advanced autonomous capabilities for complex warfare scenarios.

Brandon Tseng, a former Navy SEAL, founded Shield AI in 2015 with the vision of protecting service members and civilians through advanced autonomous systems. The company develops AI pilots that enable unmanned military assets, from quadcopters to fighter jets, to operate autonomously even in GPS- and communication-denied environments. Shield AI's products have demonstrated significant battlefield impact, including drug interdiction operations and successful deployment in the Ukraine conflict, with their latest innovation being the XBAT, a multi-role AI-piloted combat strike jet capable of vertical takeoff and land without runways.

Shield AI's Mission

• 00:01:32 Brandon Tseng co-founded Shield AI in 2015 to build AI pilots for military assets, advocating for US national security through AI and autonomy. The company's mission is to protect service members and civilians with artificially intelligent systems by building and proliferating the world's best AI pilot, a self-driving technology for unmanned systems.

Early Military Experience

• 00:09:08 Tseng's battlefield experiences, including augmenting SEAL Team 6 and understanding the kill chain, profoundly shaped his vision for building AI systems that protect warfighters. He gained a deep understanding of intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), and targeting operations, which later proved crucial for developing autonomous systems at Shield AI.

Path to Navy SEALs

• 00:14:14 Tseng's fascination with being a Navy SEAL began at age 10 after watching movies like 'Under Siege' and 'The Rock.' He pursued this dream by attending the Naval Academy, enduring a rigorous SEAL screener, and later laterally transferring to the SEAL teams after an initial denial, describing his time in the fleet as 'spiritual torment' that built resilience.

Autonomous Quadcopter Impact

• 01:03:05 Shield AI's first product was an AI-piloted quadcopter designed to autonomously clear buildings of threats, which has been deployed to combat zones like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. This product, despite its early flaws, proved invaluable by bringing service members home safely and causing adversaries to detonate themselves upon its detection, demonstrating a significant mission impact.

AI Learning & Warfare

• 01:18:38 Autonomous systems learn through reinforcement learning, a methodology where positive behaviors are rewarded and negative ones are not, enabling them to improve through millions of simulations. This approach allows AI to master complex tasks from room clearing to dogfighting, operating effectively even in environments with uncountable variables, similar to how humans learn from experience.

Global Competition in AI

• 01:27:30 China is identified as the primary competitor in AI and autonomy, known for its ability to mobilize resources and rapidly iterate on technology. While the United States leads in software, China's faster iteration cycle poses a significant challenge, with Chinese entities openly stating intentions to field 'million-drone sized armies.'

VBAT in Ukraine & Counter-Drug Ops

• 01:32:38 The VBAT, a 180-lb vertical takeoff and land aircraft, serves as a miniature Predator Reaper drone for ISR and targeting missions, proving highly effective in Ukraine and counter-drug operations in the Caribbean. In Ukraine, despite initial failures due to jamming, the AI-piloted VBAT successfully operated in GPS and communications-denied environments, enabling the destruction of hundreds of millions of dollars of Russian equipment and interdicting over half a billion dollars in cocaine.

The XBAT Combat Jet

• 01:53:30 The XBAT is a first-of-its-kind AI-piloted vertical takeoff and land (VTOL) multi-role combat strike jet that eliminates the need for runways. It offers a 2100 nautical mile range with mission payload, cruises at 55,000 feet, and can carry air-to-air, air-to-ground missiles, and bombs, costing a fraction of traditional fighter jets while providing fifth- and sixth-generation capabilities and electronic warfare functions. It will augment human pilots in 2035 but may lead to fully autonomous combat in 100 years.