SMARTSHOOTER, a manufacturer of an AI generated weapon and attachment developed their product in 2011 with the goal “one-shot, one-hit.” Currently in beta testing at checkpoint 56 in Hebron, Palestine, Smartshooter was selected by the United States’ Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate to develop the Individual Weapon Overmatch Optic for the Department of Defense, with funding from the RDT+E and other private funders.
With offices in Virginia, Israel, Germany, and Australia, Smartshooter disguises their operations within seemingly tranquil suburban environments. Sited in Herndon, Virginia, directly across from Smartshooter’s US office, the project enacts a covert data extraction operation in a building disguised as an AI weapon testing range, where Smartshooter funders are invited to test out an alleged new product. Through the play of material and technical ambiguity, transparency, and surveillance, the building’s exterior mirrors the domestic visage of the Smartshooter office and its neighbors, while its program is defined by three distinct entry and temporal thresholds. The center, and first, path is dedicated to Smartshooter funders, and collects their device and biometric data upon arrival and throughout the space; the left path archives and analyzes this information; and the right path exhibits this extracted information to the public.
