Meta lets US military use its Llama AI model for ‘national security applications’
- Meta will now collaborate with government agencies to develop military applications
- Concerns have been raised about the security risks to AI
- Researchers find evidence that China has already used Lama for defense
Meta announced that it is offering the use of its Llama generative AI model to government organizations for “national security applications,” and that it is working with U.S. agencies and contractors to support their work.
Among the companies Meta works with are Lockheed Martin, AWS and Oracle. One example the company gives is its partnership with Oracle to “curate aircraft maintenance documents” so technicians can diagnose problems “faster and more accurately.”
Lockheed Martin is also said to have incorporated Llama into its AI factory, which Meta says has accelerated code generation, data analysis and improved business processes.
Step change in policy
This is a significant change from Llama’s acceptable use policy, which prohibits the use of models for “military, warfare, nuclear industries or applications, espionage,” and specifically prohibits the development of weapons and the promotion of violence.
The use of AI for defense is disputed by some, who cite security concerns such as potentially compromising data. Other vulnerabilities, such as biases and hallucinations, are inherent to AI and cannot be avoided, experts warn.
The catalyst for this drastic policy change could be the recent reports China has used the model in its own military applications. The Lama was reportedly used by the state to gather and process intelligence, creating ‘ChatBIT’ for military dialogue and answering questions.
This was obviously against Llama’s terms of use, but since the model is public and open source, the policy is difficult to enforce.
“In the global AI competition, the alleged role of a single, outdated version of an American open source model is irrelevant when we know that China is already investing more than a trillion dollars to surpass the US in AI,” said Meta. in a statement.
Meta has confirmed that it will also make exceptions for government agencies in the other Five Eyes countries Canada, Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand.
Via TechCrunch
