Katrina Manson: Project Maven at The Strand
Bloomberg reporter Katrina Manson discusses the Pentagon's first AI warfare initiative and the tensions it sparked in Silicon Valley.
Why we picked this
The story of how the Pentagon tried to bring AI to the battlefield -- and what happened when Google's engineers found out -- is one of the defining tech ethics narratives of our time.
Award-winning Bloomberg reporter Katrina Manson presents Project Maven: A Marine Colonel, His Team, and the Dawn of AI Warfare, a deeply reported account of the Pentagon’s 2017 initiative to use artificial intelligence for analyzing drone surveillance footage.
The book follows the small team that launched the program, the internal revolt it triggered at Google, and the broader collision between Silicon Valley’s idealism and the military’s operational needs. Manson’s reporting traces how this single project reshaped the debate about AI’s role in warfare.
At The Strand’s Columbus Avenue location, Manson will discuss the characters, the classified tensions, and what Project Maven reveals about who controls the future of AI. Free entry with suggested donation; signed copies available.