The recent World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland, unveiled a new collaboration between the most renowned AI company in the world, OpenAI, and the United States Defense Department. In their partnership, OpenAI is lending its artificial intelligence technology and tools to help improve the US military in different aspects, including its use for the improvement of cybersecurity.
On a more serious note, this use of AI for the military looks to offer it for the veterans, helping prevent massive cases of suicide among them.
OpenAI, US Defense Collaboration: AI for Military Use
Mariia Shalabaieva from Unsplash
According to Bloomberg's report, OpenAI revealed that it is collaborating with the US Defense for the use of its AI technology for the country's military, centered on various applications. OpenAI confirmed this via an interview at the World Economic Forum with the news agency, claiming that while there are still its policies, there are other use cases for its AI's application to different aspects of the military.
It is important to note that OpenAI recently updated its policies that allow the military to use its technology, but still upholds certain reluctance of the said application.
It was reported that one of the main focuses of this collaboration is for Defense's cybersecurity projects which AI will help improve. Moreover, OpenAI's tech will be used to explore ways to help prevent veteran suicide.
Still, this collaboration does not trump OpenAI's reluctance for the use its technology for developing AI weapons or AI-powered weapons. Based on its Usage Policies under the Universal Policies section 2, the company still prevents the use of its services to "harm yourself or others."
Under this, it also talks about its prohibition of the use of its AI to "develop or use weapons."
AI for Weapons and Military
For the longest time, OpenAI has chosen the route of pacifism, particularly for the use of its artificial intelligence developments to create AI weapons and such applications for warfare. In their policy, they prohibit this use, including the application of their AI developments for military uses, but it was recently changed by the company that allows the military access to it.
There are several points of view regarding the use of AI in the US military, and while there have not been massive applications or explorations of this technology that are known by the public, many still want to consider its use. According to Former Army General Mark Milley, the United States, its Defense Department, and the military need to "embrace" AI to keep up or stay ahead.
With AI still at the forefront of tech developments in the present, many are using its capabilities and features to improve their technology and experiences, applied to various fields adopting it. After a year of AI dominance, OpenAI's recent policy changes open up the possibilities of its tech's application for the US Defense, centering on military use, but not necessarily for creating next-gen weapons.
