Slashdot Mirror
Google Promises Its AI Will Not Be Used For Weapons (nytimes.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: Google, reeling from an employee protest over the use of artificial intelligence for military purposes, said Thursday that it would not use A.I. for weapons or for surveillance that violates human rights (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source). But it will continue to work with governments and the military. The new rules were part of a set of principles Google unveiled relating to the use of artificial intelligence. In a company blog post, Sundar Pichai, the chief executive, laid out seven objectives for its A.I. technology, including "avoid creating or reinforcing unfair bias" and "be socially beneficial."
Google also detailed applications of the technology that the company will not pursue, including A.I. for "weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people" and "technologies that gather or use information for surveillance violating internationally accepted norms of human rights." But Google said it would continue to work with governments and military using A.I. in areas including cybersecurity, training and military recruitment. "We recognize that such powerful technology raises equally powerful questions about its use. How A.I. is developed and used will have a significant impact on society for many years to come," Mr. Pichai wrote.
Google also detailed applications of the technology that the company will not pursue, including A.I. for "weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people" and "technologies that gather or use information for surveillance violating internationally accepted norms of human rights." But Google said it would continue to work with governments and military using A.I. in areas including cybersecurity, training and military recruitment. "We recognize that such powerful technology raises equally powerful questions about its use. How A.I. is developed and used will have a significant impact on society for many years to come," Mr. Pichai wrote.
No, it's complete and utter bullshit... Just like their policy to do no evil.
That they quietly removed this policy from their manifest public image demonstrates that such claims can only be regarded as complete and utter bullshit.
There's no way google can make this statement and the fact that they did shows that the company is being spun by PR villains who most likely specifically intend this as a set of smoke and mirrors to hide their true intent.
As a military weapon designer myself, this kind of thing scares me. Those who build devices that will either kill or assist specifically in the process or war and killing need to be absolutely clear on the outcome of their application and efforts to maintain their morality. There are plenty of valid reasons for creating weapons - defending your own country, protecting the weak and innocent, even saving the lives of those whose job it is to defend. But ethics should always be at the center of any works in this area.
Denying the outcome for commercial reasons is the first sign that any pretense of ethics has been cast aside.