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Meta Permits Its AI Models To Be Used For US Military Purposes (nytimes.com) 44

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: Meta will allow U.S. government agencies and contractors working on national security to use its artificial intelligence models for military purposes, the company said on Monday, in a shift from its policy that prohibited the use of its technology for such efforts. Meta said that it would make its A.I. models, called Llama, available to federal agencies and that it was working with defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Booz Allen as well as defense-focused tech companies including Palantir and Anduril. The Llama models are "open source," which means the technology can be freely copied and distributed by other developers, companies and governments.

Meta's move is an exception to its "acceptable use policy," which forbade the use of the company's A.I. software for "military, warfare, nuclear industries," among other purposes. In a blog post on Monday, Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs, said the company now backed "responsible and ethical uses" of the technology that supported the United States and "democratic values" in a global race for A.I. supremacy. "Meta wants to play its part to support the safety, security and economic prosperity of America -- and of its closest allies too," Mr. Clegg wrote. He added that "widespread adoption of American open source A.I. models serves both economic and security interests."
The company said it would also share its technology with members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance: Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand in addition to the United States.
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Meta Permits Its AI Models To Be Used For US Military Purposes

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  • The Five Eyes? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by codebase7 ( 9682010 ) on Tuesday November 05, 2024 @08:08AM (#64920901)
    Looks like someone let loose a little too much there.

    When people hear "US Military use" they think of carpet bombing brown people in the desert.

    When people hear "The Five Eyes Alliance" they think of subversive government trying to curtail the freedoms and privacy of those they are supposed to serve.

    Guess we know what Meta has in store then. Fuckerburg just sold out everyone to the traditional panopticon.
    • by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Tuesday November 05, 2024 @08:15AM (#64920907) Homepage Journal

      Guess we know what Meta has in store then. Fuckerburg just sold out everyone to the traditional panopticon.

      Facebook was already known to be a member of PRISM like Apple and Microsoft, so we already knew they were part of the panopticon. This is only confirmation, not news. Facebook was absolutely never going to restrict these models from military use.

      • There's a big difference from the panopticon of digital price fixing and cyberstalking VS. the panopticon of drones (human or artificial) with guns. One will keep you alive to milk you for all your worth, the other will gladly kill you for nothing.
        • Facebook was already known to be a member of PRISM

          There's a big difference from the panopticon of digital price fixing and cyberstalking VS. the panopticon of drones (human or artificial) with guns.

          Tell us you don't know enough to participate in this conversation [wikipedia.org] without telling us.

          • Funny, where's the rampant murder by the state in that article you linked? I don't see it...../s

            Yes, we already knew Facebook was a member of PRISM. I never said they weren't. By using Meta's AI directly in military conflicts however, Meta has gone from a snitch to the person holding the gun. Which makes their mass surveillance even more egregious and poses even greater potential for abusing the general public with deadly consequences. That was the point of my post you idiot.
    • Glad he said it out loud rather than in a back room like everyone else, though.

    • Zuck is probably thinking: "Now that Musk has gone super-evil, my semi-evil won't stand out as much. Haters of corporate hubris can't just run off to X."

  • "Meta will allow U.S. government agencies and contractors working on national security to use its artificial intelligence models for military purposes, the company said on Monday..."

    Like Zuckerberg could stop them even if he wanted to...and he doesn't want to. I wonder what kind of deal he cut.

  • by Retired Chemist ( 5039029 ) on Tuesday November 05, 2024 @08:31AM (#64920959)
    How long until they announce that the US is under attack by the Duchy of Grand Fenwick (see the Mouse that Roared).
  • by ThumpBzztZoom ( 6976422 ) on Tuesday November 05, 2024 @09:02AM (#64921039)

    "We have principles, a moral code that we will never, ever break.

    Unless we can make more money."

    Companies have policies that hold high moral standards to that which they are not currently doing. The second those moral standards are in conflict with profit, their moral standards are suddenly surprisingly flexible.

    The "stock price above all" switch that took over in the 1980s effectively banned morality for publicly held corporations, if you don't do the profitable thing now, no matter how morally repugnant, the board will replace you with someone who will. "Go evil early" has become sound financial planning, as it gives you a jump on the competition that will inevitably be forced to follow.

  • The idea that we're not going to use such tech for "military, warfare, or nuclear" purposes is naive and stupid virtue signalling.

    Do we insist window manufacturers certify "our windows aren't used in military buildings" or plumbers "we don't allow soldiers to shit in our hardware"?

    I'd be delighted if there was somehow a way to prevent people who moralistically take a 'stance' against the military & police would somehow be able to be divorced from the benefits of either. But for now, they are free-rider

  • by ZipNada ( 10152669 ) on Tuesday November 05, 2024 @09:45AM (#64921101)

    Meta executives told Reuters that "the Chinese government was not authorized to use Llama for military purposes".

    But if anyone can get their hands on Llama and do whatever they like, I don't think a niggling license issue is going to be an impediment. So it isn't surprising that Meta would accept the inevitable and just go ahead and give the US and its allies explicit permission.

  • list primary targets

  • by chas.williams ( 6256556 ) on Tuesday November 05, 2024 @10:15AM (#64921153)
    The US military does a lot of things. Some of them are benign, others not so much.
  • by flyingfsck ( 986395 ) on Tuesday November 05, 2024 @10:28AM (#64921185)
    Man, having an AI dream up a fake threat could have very exciting consequences for the poor sods living in the vicinity thereof.
    • Humans have no problems thinking up false threats. Alien Invasion to Russian Election Interference to claims of Manchurian Candidates, all were thought up by humans with a tiny bit of political power. Slights perceived or real. And laying the majority of war at the feet of religion, AI making up stuff is 12th on the threat rundown.
  • It's what's for dinner.
  • How is this possible? Meta is well known for a rock solid foundation of ethics and wisdom, setting an example for good in the world. I just don't know what to believe anymore.
  • If Huawei cannot get those chips.

  • However: share and allow = paid and sold
  • Can it be anymore obvious with the crazy timing?

Someday somebody has got to decide whether the typewriter is the machine, or the person who operates it.

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