Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg has directed the U.S. military to designate Palantir Technologies’ Maven Smart System as an official “program of record,” a formal status that secures stable, long-term funding and accelerates its adoption across all branches of the armed forces, according to a March 9, 2026, letter reviewed by Reuters.

In the memo sent to senior Pentagon leaders and U.S. military commanders, Feinberg wrote that embedding Maven would equip warfighters “with the latest tools necessary to detect, deter, and dominate our adversaries in all domains.”

The designation is expected to take effect by the end of the current fiscal year on September 30, 2026. The move transfers oversight of Maven from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office within 30 days. Future contracting will shift to the Army, streamlining procurement and integration.

“It is imperative that we invest now and with focus to deepen the integration of artificial intelligence across the Joint Force and establish AI-enabled decision-making as the cornerstone of our strategy,” Feinberg stressed.

Maven’s Role in Current Operations

Maven serves as the U.S. military’s primary AI command-and-control platform for analyzing battlefield data from satellites, drones, radars, sensors, and intelligence reports. The system uses AI to automatically identify potential threats, including enemy vehicles, buildings, and weapons stockpiles. It has supported thousands of targeted strikes against Iran over the past three weeks amid the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war.

During a presentation at a Palantir event earlier this month, Pentagon official Cameron Stanley demonstrated Maven’s capabilities for weapons targeting in the Middle East. He showed heat map screenshots from the platform and noted: “When we started this, it literally took hours to do what you just saw.”

Palantir maintains that Maven does not make lethal decisions. Humans remain responsible for selecting and approving targets. The company stresses that its software is a decision-support tool, not an autonomous weapon.

Path to Program of Record Status

The program originated in 2017 as Project Maven, initially focused on labeling drone imagery. Palantir took over as the primary contractor in 2024 with a deal worth up to $480 million. That contract ceiling was raised to $1.3 billion in May 2025.

In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee in 2024, Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar said Maven had “tens of thousands” of users and urged Congress to provide additional funding.

Official program of record status will make Maven a permanent line item in defense budgets, reducing reliance on annual ad hoc appropriations and enabling broader deployment across combatant commands, services, and joint operations.

One lingering issue is Maven’s integration of Anthropic’s Claude AI model. Reuters previously reported that Anthropic was deemed a supply-chain risk by the Pentagon in early March 2026 after refusing to remove restrictions on mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous lethal weapons.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth imposed a six-month phase-out of Anthropic tools across federal agencies and contractors, though a later Pentagon memo allowed continued use if deemed critical to national security.

United Nations expert panels have repeatedly warned that AI-assisted targeting without human intervention raises ethical, legal, and security risks due to potential biases in training data. Palantir insists humans retain ultimate responsibility for lethal decisions.

The designation is a major victory for Palantir, which has secured a growing portfolio of defense contracts, including a 2025 U.S. Army deal worth up to $10 billion. These awards have helped double the company’s stock price over the past year, lifting its market value to nearly $360 billion.

The decision also reflects the Pentagon’s accelerating embrace of AI as a core enabler of modern warfare. With the Middle East conflict ongoing and no clear end in sight, Maven’s expanded role could deepen U.S. reliance on commercial AI providers while intensifying debates over the ethics, reliability, and strategic risks of automated targeting systems.

As the military moves to institutionalize Maven, after jettisoning Anthropic, the U.S. is potentially setting the framework for AI policy and the broader integration of commercial technology into national security missions.

For decades, the American grocery aisle changed slowly, even as retail was reshaped by e-commerce and data. But that is beginning to shift, led by Walmart, which is rolling out digital shelf labels across its U.S. stores in what could become the most significant in-store pricing overhaul since the barcode, per CNBC.

According to the report, the company plans to complete the rollout by year-end, setting a pace that smaller rivals may struggle to match. In an industry where Walmart often dictates operational standards through scale, its move is likely to accelerate adoption across grocery and general merchandise retail.

The technology replaces paper tags with electronic displays that can be updated instantly. The appeal is straightforward for Walmart as pricing changes that once required hours of manual labor can now be executed centrally in minutes, reducing store-level workload and limiting pricing errors at checkout.

On the ground, the impact is already visible. Amanda Bailey, a team leader at a Walmart store in Ohio, said the system has reshaped daily operations.

“They are not used to seeing digital tags — they think prices are being raised, but what they are really doing is eliminating processes,” she said, estimating that time spent on pricing tasks has dropped by about 75%.

That efficiency matters more in Walmart’s model than in most retail formats. The company operates thousands of large-format stores that double as fulfillment centers for online orders. Digital labels allow it to synchronize in-store and online pricing in real time, reducing mismatches that frustrate customers and complicate logistics.

The labels also integrate with Walmart’s delivery ecosystem. Drivers picking items for orders can locate products faster when digital tags flash, tightening fulfilment times in a business where speed increasingly defines competitiveness.

Other retailers are watching with keen interest. Kroger has begun testing the technology, but Walmart’s scale gives it a first-mover advantage in setting expectations for both consumers and regulators.

That visibility is part of the challenge.

The same capability that allows prices to be updated quickly has triggered concerns that retailers could move toward dynamic pricing, adjusting costs more frequently in response to demand, inventory, or external conditions. The model is already common in airlines and ride-hailing, and critics worry grocery retail could follow.

Scott Benedict, a former Walmart and Sam’s Club executive, said the reaction is predictable.

“When a retailer installs technology that allows prices to change in minutes, shoppers will, of course, wonder how it might be used,” he said.

He noted that grocery shoppers are especially sensitive to price movements. “Every penny matters, and people notice small changes. Sensitivity is especially high right now given inflation, tariffs and broader economic pressure.”

Walmart has sought to draw a clear line. A company spokeswoman said the labels are designed to improve accuracy and efficiency, not to introduce variable pricing.

“If you talk to the people who shop in our stores every week, we think they will have a different view,” she said, adding that “the price you see is the same for everyone in any given store.”

Retailers broadly echo that position. A spokesperson for Kroger said digital labels ensure “clear, accurate pricing right at the shelf” and are used to align in-store prices with online listings and weekly promotions so “customers can count on consistent, reliable information.”

Lawmakers are not fully convinced.

Ben Ray Luján has introduced legislation that would restrict digital labels in large grocery stores, warning that new technology must not add pressure to already rising food costs.

“With food costs rising each month, it’s more important than ever that any new technologies implemented in grocery stores are helping to lower costs, not raise them,” CNBC quoted him as saying, describing his proposal as a “preventative measure.”

In the House, Val Hoyle has called for a ban on the technology until safeguards are in place. “There needs to be laws and enforcement to protect consumers — and until then, I’d like to see them banned outright,” she said, adding that “it is only a matter of time before a billionaire in a boardroom implements the idea” of surge pricing.

Industry groups argue that existing laws already limit that risk. The National Retail Federation says antitrust rules and state-level price gouging laws provide guardrails.

“These aren’t theoretical, they’re enforced. Retailers comply with this framework every single day,” wrote vice president Mercy Beehler.

Still, the economics of the technology are difficult to ignore. Roger White, an economics professor at Whittier College, said companies investing heavily in digital pricing infrastructure will expect returns.

“Given the cost the company will incur to install the capacity for dynamic pricing in its stores, it would be corporate malfeasance if they did not believe doing so would not only recoup the cost, but add profit as well,” he said.

That tension sits at the center of Walmart’s rollout.

On one side are clear operational gains: lower labor costs, fewer pricing errors, better alignment between physical stores and digital platforms, and the ability to adjust promotions quickly. The technology also allows real-time markdowns on perishable goods, which can reduce waste and improve margins. On the other is perception. Grocery shopping is one of the few retail experiences where customers track prices closely, often item by item, week after week. Any sense that pricing is becoming less predictable could erode trust quickly.

Amanda Mosseri Oren of Relex, a retail software company, said the issue will come down to how the technology is used and explained.

“Algorithmic pricing is ultimately a trust exercise, and trust is in short supply at the moment,” she said. “Shoppers aren’t opposed to technology, but they want to know it isn’t working against them.”

The stakes are higher for Walmart than for its peers. Its scale means that operational changes ripple across the industry. If the rollout is smooth and consumer concerns remain contained, digital shelf labels could become standard across U.S. retail within a few years. Otherwise, the backlash could invite tighter regulation and slow adoption.