Cody Wilson fires AI-designed 3D-printed gun, claims it’s the first of its kind
In October 2026, the .22-caliber WASP was printed in about six hours on a Bambu Lab printer after Wilson’s GatGPT proposed six changes to the Ergo Harlot. It misfired once, then fired twice—hitting a target once; experts called it “only marginally functional.”
Gun-rights activist Cody Wilson fired what he calls “the first AI-made gun” in October 2026 at Defense Distributed’s headquarters in Austin, Texas. The weapon, a 3D-printed .22 caliber single-shot handgun named the WASP, was designed through a conversational exchange with a custom AI model Wilson built called GatGPT.
The WASP was developed when a Defense Distributed employee prompted GatGPT to create a new gun based on an existing design called the “Ergo Harlot.” The AI proposed a new design with six key changes, including a slightly longer barrel and a grip made of three grooved, circular lobes. Once approved, the team printed the gun on a Bambu Lab printer in roughly six hours using standard plastic filaments and common metal parts. During a live test, the WASP misfired on its first attempt, then successfully fired twice — hitting a cardboard target once and missing once.
GatGPT is trained on DEFCAD’s library of gun files — DEFCAD being Wilson’s own online repository of digital gun and component files, launched in 2012. Wilson envisions the model helping users design firearms through simple prompts, potentially lowering the technical barrier to producing untraceable ghost guns.
Firearms experts offered skeptical assessments. Jonathan Ferguson of the Royal Armouries Museum called the WASP “only marginally functional,” noting vestigial sights, an open trigger guard, and a weirdly shaped grip. Firearms historian Ashley Hlebinsky compared it to AI-generated images of guns that get “most of the way there but then have some weird parts missing.”
Gun safety group Everytown criticized the development. “He wants anyone to be able to design and manufacture weapons, and that’s dangerous,” said Everytown senior vice president Justin Wagner. The WASP carries no serial number, placing it in the category of ghost guns that advocates and lawmakers have long sought to restrict.
Wilson maintains the WASP is fundamentally an AI creation and frames gun files as protected speech — a legal argument he has pursued in courts for nearly a decade. He predicts AI-generated gun designs will improve rapidly as more users interact with GatGPT and expand its training data.