Today, I’m talking with Slydio CEO Adam Bry, who runs the leading US maker of autonomous drones. We covered a lot in this conversation, including Skydio’s police and government work at a time when military use of AI is more controversial than ever and competing with Chinese drones against the backdrop of the Trump’s administration’s DJI ban.

There’s a lot in this one – maybe more than anything, it was refreshing to hear Adam talk about using AI to bring even more people to work at Skydio as the company expands. I also got to fly a drone, which ruled.

Links: 

• Flying a semi-autonomous industrial drone | Decoder
• Sorry kid, drones are for war now | The Verge
• The FCC’s foreign drone ban is here | The Verge
• Skydio is pivoting to enterprise — its consumer drones are dead | The Verge
• Skydio commits $3.5B to expand US manufacturing | Skydio
• A US drone maker tries to take back the country’s skies | Bloomberg
• DEA looks to add Skydio, Parrot drones to its arsenal | FedScoop
• The future of border security isn’t at the border at all | The Verge

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Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane. 

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

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