Slashdot Mirror
Google Is Helping the Pentagon Build AI for Drones (gizmodo.com)
Google has partnered with the United States Department of Defense to help the agency develop artificial intelligence for analyzing drone footage, a move that set off a firestorm among employees of the technology giant when they learned of Google's involvement, Gizmodo reported on Tuesday. From the report: Google's pilot project with the Defense Department's Project Maven, an effort to identify objects in drone footage, has not been previously reported, but it was discussed widely within the company last week when information about the project was shared on an internal mailing list, according to sources who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the project. Some Google employees were outraged that the company would offer resources to the military for surveillance technology involved in drone operations, sources said, while others argued that the project raised important ethical questions about the development and use of machine learning.
.... is the motto of Google's corporate code of conduct, first introduced around 2000. ...
They're not using AI to control drones, but to analyze all the imagery collected by them.
How is this different from, say, Facebook analyzing the photos you upload and picking out people that look like other people?
“There’s a general concern in the tech community of somehow the military-industrial complex using their stuff to kill people incorrectly”
If there's ever a sentence where one word changes the entire context of a statement, it's that one - and the last word.
That word is redundant from the perspective of the tech community, but extraordinarily menacing when tacked on to the statement like that.
Don't be evil. Incorrectly.
biopowered.co.uk - catalytically cracking triglycerides for home automotive use since 2008. Just say no to big oil!
The fact is, early warfare involved enslaving the men and raping the women. It was focused on the people one was attacking.
Later came wide-area bombing of industrial areas and strategic targets such as bridges, trying to destroy the enemy's ability to wage war against you.
Indiscriminate bombing ala WWII is now illegal under international law. Developed nations recently begun to wage war by sending laser-guided bombs to destroy a particular part of a building which is militarily important, perhaps targeting an single room. The US often notifies civilians ahead of time to stay clear of the area.
The new way to wage war, currently being developed as the first "cold" wars are fought this way, is to send packets to your enemy's servers and try to make their computers stop working right.
The trend line is very much AWAY from "guns/bombs into a combat area, and the killing anyone resisting". Indeed over the last 50 years military doctrine in the west has been that a long-term win requires changing the "hearts and minds" of the populace in the opposing country, "winning them over". Killing is minimized. The thinking over the last 50 years is that the more of your enemy your kill, the more they'll be seeking and getting revenge later. So better to take out their military capability, then immediately start building schools, hospitals, and other infrastructure to make them your friends.
The history of the US vs Germany and Japan indicates it may in fact be possible, and even more effective, to win by ending the war as quickly as possible by destroying their ability to fight *even at the cost of civilian lives in the short term*. Then make friends with them the best you can. Massive force which causes the enemy to quickly stop trying to fight may in the end up costing fewer lives than trying to carefully and slowly pick off military targets without hurting civilians, resulting in a decade-long war. Precision strikes are, and have been, the trend, though.
There are many Non-lethal uses of drones.
Tracking fires. Monitoring traffic. Surveying sites. Construction inspection. Search and rescue. Hundreds more uses that don't involve explosives.
Take just about any job that used to require a Helicopter can now be done by drone more cheaply.
- Sir! there's a missile coming in!
- Fire our Google Enhanced countermeasures, soldier!
(drone plays advertisement before launch)
* * * No Carrier * * *
Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
All war is negative and evil but the truth is that we are forced to live with wars just as our ancestors were. If an enemy creates or improves an element of war that you do not have you will be defeated. If there are AI drones on this planet we must be certain that we have the best drones and more drones deployed than an enemy. We can only hope that the drones will be sophisticated enough to eliminate more death of non combatants than current equipment. Think what would have happened if we did not have the first atomic bombs.
nothing beats it. Seriously, you'll never meet a company that'll turn down a contract from the Pentagon.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
If the facts support a certain conclusion, you can present the facts and people can see the clear conclusion.
When you wish to advance a conclusion that is not supported by the facts, you must instead make vague, misleading references that somewhat sound like you're referencing facts, then state the conclusion you want people to draw from your misrepresentations.
You have presented vague, misleading statements which imply the opposite of the actual facts. One can only conclude that this is because you couldn't find any actual facts which support your agenda. Therefore we can conclude that your premise is unsupported by facts and is false.
I could highlight the good points you made, and those I agree with. That's boring, though.
- The purpose of war is "to kill people and break things" until the other has had enough and capitulates.
It seems to me "kill people" and "break things" are methods to (probably indirectly) achieve some purpose. Perhaps the purpose is to discourage invasions and the direct method is removing Hussein's forces from Kuwait. Perhaps the purpose is to protect your own people from further attacks by the Japanese and the direct method is remove Japan's ability and willingness to attack. There is always some goal to be achieved. Perhaps the goal is a safer hemisphere, and the direct method is the removal of Noriega from power. Failing to clearly define and communicate the goal certainly hampers one's efforts.
You think just because Google is doing this it's something new or bad? The military has always worked with companies and universities to build advanced tech systems, including AI systems. This is nothing new. Why all of a sudden Google does it and it's news? I mean go to all the AI conferences and look at the papers and who funds them, It's all NSF, or DARPA or something government/military. Why do you think it's called the Military Industrial Complex.
Where do you think all the self driving cars and system came from? Military funding.
I worked on the Unmanned Ground Vehicle systems and we built the foundations for all of this, and that was 20 years ago. We used Neural Network road following and cooperative robotics and all that stuff. And the robotics could be vehicles and drones.
So its no surprise that Google is working on building this stuff and then going to take advantage of the results to build their own systems. Google is a company trying to make money, just like Northrop Grumman or Space X does in building rockets for the Military.