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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.
It will just be used to target weapons, someone will still have to push the button. For now.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
Until it is not convenient any longer - after all, the "Don't Be Evil" motto is gone.
well to be fair, they do constantly tell us they respect our privacy, and do everything to protect our personal data. So i think we should totally give them a pass on this one.
Just like they said "Don't be evil".
Guess what? You're dealing with the military. They write a contract for you to develop a specific product. Part of that contract is complete documentation on how to create the product they contracted you for. Once you deliver on the contract, it's not up to you anymore how that product is used, no matter what you might have to say about it. If they want to integrate it into a weapons system, that's tough shit for you and your ethics.
As long as they double pinky superduper promise!
Like they promised not to be evil...
When do they close the data centers that are helping the NSA spy on Americans? We will spy on you and destroy you, but the military isn't allowed to help. Google is a stupid company. They could careless about their investors, they would let another country invade, in fact, probably help them all in the name of empowering women. This company is headed down the drain and I would recommend shorting their stock. This isn't going to last.
Look into your future, Google
Google will have no control over what its users (the military) actually do with the technology. A simple AI-based robot that can identify and open doors will become a weapon as soon as the military fits a gun, mustard gas or some other biohazard to it.
To use a car analogy... it's like Ford promising cars are perfectly safe, meanwhile millions of people around the world are injured or killed in car accidents (in cars provided by all manufacturers).
They don't have to "let" the military use it. If they do a contract and the military gains the technology... they will do whatever the hell they want with it.
I don't remember exactly what it was, but I recall software for DOS back in the 80's or 90's that was free for personal, educational, and even commercial use. But strictly prohibited use by military or in weapons systems (I think it even called out nuclear weapons systems. the 80's had a lot of anti-nuclear activism). Theoretically you can put these sorts of restrictions in your software license. OSI might not consider it Free software, and technically such a license would be incompatible with GPL. But maybe being compliant with RMS is less important than a software author's political stance on war.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
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.
Um, no. That's not how defense contracting works, unless the military paid them to develop it with Government Purpose Rights, or an "unlimited" rights license...you can look up the terms.
Just another day in Paradise