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Google Plans Not To Renew its Contract for Project Maven, a Controversial Drone AI Imaging Program (gizmodo.com)
Kate Konger, reporting for Gizmodo: Google will not seek another contract for its controversial work providing artificial intelligence to the U.S. Department of Defense for analyzing drone footage after its current contract expires. Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene announced the decision at a meeting with employees Friday morning, three sources told Gizmodo. The current contract expires in 2019 and there will not be a follow-up contract, Greene said. The meeting, dubbed Weather Report, is a weekly update on Google Cloud's business. Google would not choose to pursue Maven today because the backlash has been terrible for the company, Greene said, adding that the decision was made at a time when Google was more aggressively pursuing military work. The company plans to unveil new ethical principles about its use of AI next week.
Yeah, they’ll just open a contract under a different name and hide it better.
be building SkyNet.
Do a good job, and you really can get the Syrians out of Lebanon. :)
Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
...which is all about drone-based AI assisted ... "package" ""delivery"".
I mean... I GUESS you could use this Death Ray as a weapon - but it's for PEACEFUL purposes - I swear
crazy dynamite monkey
Standard government (and business) practice when a program experiences any adverse PR: end it as soon as possible and start it up under a new name.
Homonym proper nouns are enfuriating. &angry-face;
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Why doesn't Google notify DoD they are stopping work on present contract and will not be submitting any billings?
That is a legal and ethical action.
Well I do not expect the Department of Defense to shrug, say "oh well..." and move along.
They will find a new partner (maybe Yahoo! Imaging or even Facebook) that might not do as well. Then when the resulting (inferior) AI decides a school bus is really an armored personnel carrier... What could possibly go wrong?
For a further example please refer to Apple maps.
When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras
It used to be that DARPA and DOD hired ppl directly. Starting under reagan, we had the big push to move towards contracting which is now an economic nightmare. In addition, we really should have a number of scientists on-board working on various new tech.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
The DoD is probably rather happy Google quit. Who would want to work on military projects with someone as unreliable and leaky as Google?
Google hires people based on skin color and genitals, which leaves them with subpar engineers. I know several of them, they're fucking nuts. You don't want them working on anything important or that needs to actually get finished.
at least get the journalist's name right
https://techcrunch.com/author/kate-conger/
https://kinja.com/conger
"Kate Conger is a senior reporter at Gizmodo."
I see Google leadership and employees feel entitled to a world of peace. They don't like the 'backlash' that comes with doing the hard work of preparing for the worst. The functional result of this thinking leads to The Free World ending up on the pile of Darwin Award winners.
The real world imposes backlash too, Google.
LOL. People are buying this public statement?
All that's happening is the project is moving into a small locked-down division of Google. There's no way they're gonna skip out on getting that big fat government pork, with guaranteed additional revenue year-to-year for continued "development."
thus quoth the maven
nevemrome
Good for Google. This is a gray area. As a former USAF software developer, I have been using my time after hours to study machine learning. I swore to uphold the constitution, and while it does not necessarily apply directly to non-citizens, I don't feel right about extrajudicial killings remotely at our leisure, especially given the high rate of non-target killings that has entailed.
If the US is attacked and this is needed in an emergency, I can see helping the US government. However, I don't think the president needs a convenient kill button to micromanage so he can decide to kill anyone he wants overseas at any time.
So they plan to deliver the software no later than end of 2019 where you click on some portrait image on the web, the AI will identify and locate the person's home based on social media and Google maps data, and then automatically launch a drone strike on that home. Testing will then commence with the critics of the project as guinea pigs.
Some other company will and maybe they won't be as moral as the google employees or maybe they will be more so however other countries/organisations are certainly doing this so who would you prefer to own that space.
Your'e all thinking it, I just said it for you
google can do it or not... it won't change anything.
its happening. If various corporate cultures want to special snowflake their way out of contracts that just leaves more opportunities for rival organizations.
yawn.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Some may say this is an arbitrary line in the sand, or one that to inclusive, but it's admirable that they have the will to draw any line at all. If what Google and big tech companies promise comes true (i.e., general AI in the next 10-20 years), then this should be welcome news to anyone who wants to see AI help humankind and not hurt it.
Fast Federal Court and I.T.C. updates
Previous reports said that this project was a small tier of the larger government cloud contract. This one is already signed. "Don't be evil" was removed from as the company motto. It doesn't change a thing. They are still after that 10 year contract. This article is nothing but a big PR smokescreen. You can sell this article to the people of zdnet. Not at slashdot.
Of course, Google will probably be more than happy to help China or Pakistan or the highest bidder. But the PC police say you can't help the US.
My essay has gotten little attention: http://yuhongbao.blogspot.com/...
Even things like this (not covered in the essay) has been hard to find more info about: https://twitter.com/berendjanw...