In correspondence with his theme of freedom for the 2024-2025 school year, President Jim Gash opened his speaker series with Palmer Luckey, an American inventor, innovator and entrepreneur.
Luckey is best known for founding Oculus VR and Anduril Industries. Oculus VR is a virtual reality headset company that allows users to be a part of the game they are playing. It is now owned by Meta, a division of Facebook. Anduril Industries is a defense technology company that revolutionized the defense system of the United States and its allies through the use of artificial intelligence.
Gash began the event by asking Luckey about his background.
“I kind of represent the outside the system guy,” Luckey said.
Homeschooled and with a strong engineering background, Luckey entered Cal State University, Long Beach as a journalism major. He also served as the online editor of the Daily 49er, the university’s independent student newspaper.
Luckey described his entrance into the virtual reality industry as a challenge to understand the redefinition of display technology.
“I’m gonna work on where it’s actually going,” Luckey said.
Luckey said he committed himself to understanding the immersive gaming experience consumers were seeking, which was to be a part of their video games. He started researching and innovating in regards to heaviness of the headsets, motion effects and how the technology can impact the retina of the eye. He said his research led to innovations that improved the headsets, reduced costs and made Oculus VR a leader in the virtual reality industry.
“Everyone doing VR was doing it on Oculus,” Luckey said.
Luckey also touched on Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus VR. Many companies had interest in purchasing Oculus VR, yet what made Facebook and Meta different was their long-term view. He admired how Facebook was willing to make change within itself by investing in a hardware platform.
Luckey entered the world of defense technology shortly after Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus VR, he said. He aimed to continue to make a difference and prove himself to be more than a single success, Luckey said.
“I was not a one hit wonder and all the people that thought I was, were gonna look like idiots,” Luckey said. “That last one was very important for me.”
He founded Anduril Industries, named after the sword from The Lord of the Rings, that was inherently created to fight evil and was admired for what it protects.
Luckey said he wanted to rebuild what the U.S. had in terms of national security and emphasized the importance of protecting the values of the United States. He said he was disappointed by some of the notions the national defense was taking to reduce cost.
“We were divorcing our innovative tech companies from our national defense,” Luckey said.
Luckey also addressed the disagreement surrounding defense technology by drawing parallels to the Anduril sword, whose blades were loved for what they protected.
“Blades are bright and edges are keen, but that’s how you get people to work on stuff,” Luckey said.
He informed the audience about Lattice AI, which is the artificial intelligence agent that powers defense technology. He also clarified the position Anduril has within defense.
“Anduril is a defense product company, not a defense contractor,” Luckey said.
Luckey spoke about international matters and discussed how Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy approached him prior to the Russian-Ukrainian war. Zelenskyy hoped to utilize his defense technology. Luckey doesn’t think that his defense technology would have prevented the war from happening, but he believes it could have made some differences in impact.
“I think it would’ve made a material difference,” said Luckey.
Luckey said he also had the opportunity to visit Ukraine during the war and witness the circumstances firsthand.
To conclude the speaker series, Luckey introduced his new product: The ModRetro Chromatic. This product had been in the making for the past 17 years and features a lab grown sapphire crystal screen. The ModRetro Chromatic will be manufactured in North America, Luckey said.
Luckey extensively collaborated with Tetris for this product. The product is bundled with the newest version of Tetris and was used at the Tetris World Championship.
Luckey said his greatest inspirations are Howard Hughes and Walt Disney, commending their great support for the nation and their determination to do beyond what was believed to be their possibility.
“Walt Disney in particular did a lot of military work that people are not familiar,” Luckey said. “He probably did more for World War II, particularly on victory through superior air power. He probably did more for the war effort than any individual American.”
Gash then gifted Luckey a coin that said “freedom” and asked Luckey what freedom meant to him.
Luckey described freedom as self-determination and not the ability to impose your will on others. He said he believes in the value of the word and believes it should not be diluted.
“Freedom is not just your right to decide what to do for yourself, it’s also the right of your town to decide how to manage its affairs,” Luckey said. “Of your nation, how to manage its affairs relative to other countries. Its the values that enable that to go on indefinitely.”
Gash then applauded Luckey as a true soldier who loves what’s behind him, who fights against tyranny and terrorism for freedom, and a defender of free societies.
As the session concluded, President Gash also gifted Luckey a leather-bound copy of Tolkien’s work.
Looking ahead, Luckey said he is considering and planning an initial public offering (IPO), initial public offering, for Anduril.
“In the long run, being publicly traded does lead you to be aligned with the American public in a lot of ways,” Luckey said.
Luckey also shared the news that Anduril has signed a new major contract with the U.S. Space Force. Luckey believes defense technology is the next frontier for tech evolution and he encourages companies to pursue tackling problems in national security.
“Anduril is not gonna do all of it. We’re not gonna do this alone. There are plenty of problems to be solved,” Luckey said.
As for recent Pepperdine graduates aspiring to work in the defense industry, Luckey offered advice cautioning against working for prime companies.
“A lot of people think they will get experience,” Luckey said. “The reality is these existing companies are so stratified and so siloed that anything you learn about how to operate in a company like that is gonna be so hyper specific rather than the more generalized knowledge you need to operate not just in a start-up but a generally regular business.”
He encourages those who want to learn in defense, to work somewhere they will learn a variety of generally applicable skills.
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Contact Ellya Asatryan via email: ellya.asatryan@pepperdine.edu
