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#245 Trae Stephens - Inside Anduril’s AI Superweapons: Eagle Eye Helmet and Autonomous Tech

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Oct 16, 2025

Guest

Trae Stephens

Trae Stephens, Co-founder of Anduril Industries and former Palantir employee, dives deep into cutting-edge defense technologies and the ethical implications of weaponry. He discusses innovative projects like autonomous drones and border monitoring systems, alongside the importance of just war principles. Trae also highlights the need for reindustrialization in America and contrasts U.S. tech prowess with China's manufacturing advantages. Additionally, he emphasizes the value of vocational training over traditional college paths, blending tech insights with personal anecdotes.

02:22:26

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Transcript

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INSIGHT

Ethics Drive Anduril's Tech Strategy

Trae Stephens frames modern defense tech through just war theory to prioritize discrimination, proportionality, and protecting innocent life.
He argues precision and autonomy can reduce collateral damage and remove humans from dull, dirty, dangerous tasks.

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ADVICE

Sell Relationships, Not Just Products

When selling to government, build relationships and decades-long trust, not just a better product.
Engineers must learn procurement, policy, and how to communicate with public customers to win contracts.

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ANECDOTE

Century Tower Kickstarted Lattice

Anduril's first deployed product was the Century Tower autonomous sentry for persistent border surveillance.
The AI backbone from that project (Lattice) now powers drones, interceptors, subs, and future systems.

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Discussing Faith in Silicon Valley

02:46 • 1min

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Renaissance of Religious Interest Among Gen Z

04:11 • 4min

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Acts 17 and Bringing Apologetics to Tech

08:04 • 5min

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Just War Theory and Ethical Defense Tech

12:43 • 4min

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Weighing Moral Decisions of Building Weapons

16:30 • 2min

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Phone Security and Black Phone Initiative

18:07 • 3min

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Misconceptions About Silicon Valley and Government

21:05 • 4min

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Early Life in Rural Ohio

24:35 • 3min

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Family, Hobbies, and Outdoor Upbringing

28:01 • 3min

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Becoming Interested in Intelligence After 9/11

30:43 • 2min

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Arabic Name Matching in Intelligence Work

33:11 • 2min

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Discovering Palantir's Potential in Government

35:38 • 2min

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Addressing Privacy Concerns Around Palantir

37:17 • 3min

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Transition from Palantir to Founders Fund

40:17 • 5min

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What Founders Fund Looks For in Founders

45:30 • 2min

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Founders Fund's Notable Early Bets

47:59 • 2min

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Meeting Palmer Luckey and the Anduril Idea

49:50 • 8min

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Founding Anduril and First Product Strategy

57:23 • 1min

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Century Tower: Autonomous Border Sentry

58:39 • 2min

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Ghost Drone and Counter-Drone Systems

01:01:04 • 2min

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Undersea Platforms: Dive and Seabed Sentry

01:02:42 • 2min

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Scaling Production and the Arsenal Factory

01:04:28 • 2min

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Ohio Manufacturing Campus Plans

01:06:20 • 2min

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Reindustrializing America and Workforce Challenges

01:08:16 • 4min

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Lessons from Ukraine on Supply and Production

Personal Background: College Admissions Story

01:19:02 • 5min

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Impact of Deindustrialization on Populism

01:23:39 • 3min

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Rethinking the Value of College and Vocational Paths

01:26:36 • 5min

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AI Companions, Dating, and Social Decline

01:31:55 • 5min

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Parenting, Screens, and Protecting Children

01:37:10 • 6min

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Societal Risks from Disaffected Young Men

01:42:40 • 8min

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Anduril's Helmet and Soldier-Borne Compute

01:50:23 • 4min

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Fury Collaborative Combat Aircraft

01:54:52 • 3min

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Autonomy, Human Accountability, and the Future of Warfare

01:58:21 • 4min

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Lessons from Ukraine on GPS and Communications Denial

02:02:15 • 2min

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Biggest Global Concern: China

02:04:33 • 4min

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China's Manufacturing and Strategic Advantages

02:08:30 • 3min

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Probability and Consequences of Taiwan Contingency

02:11:20 • 2min

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Other Global Threats and Geopolitical Preparedness

02:13:30 • 1min

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Side Project: Wearable E-Reader Soul

02:14:37 • 2min

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Faith, Bible Studies, and Antichrist Lectures

02:16:20 • 3min

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Preparedness and End Times Perspective

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Trae Stephens is Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Anduril Industries, a defense technology company, and a General Partner at venture capital firm Founders Fund, where he invests across sectors with a particular interest in startups operating in the government space.

Previously, Trae was an early employee at Palantir Technologies, where he led teams focused on growth in the intelligence and defense sector as well as international expansion, helping large organizations solve their hardest data analysis problems. He was also an integral part of the product team, leading the design and strategy for new product offerings. While at Palantir, Trae also served as an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University.

Before joining Palantir, Trae worked as a computational linguist building enterprise solutions to Arabic/Persian name matching and data enrichment within the U.S. Intelligence Community. He began his career working in the office of then Congressman Rob Portman and in the Political Affairs Office at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington, D.C. immediately following the installation of Hamid Karzai’s transitional government. Trae graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

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