Artificial Intelligence research in the U.S. has traditionally been the domain of private companies, but the Pentagon has recently reached out to Silicon Valley for assistance. With China declaring its intention to become the global leader in A.I., the military (and other branches of government) are beginning to feel that they’re falling behind.
Silicon Valley has been hesitant to help, however, fearing dangerous applications of technologies. The biggest collaboration to date has been between Google and the U.S. Department of Defense on Project Maven, which is developing A.I. to analyze drone footage. Google has publicly stated that it is working with the Pentagon on technology for “non-offensive uses only.” The DoD has a Silicon Valley branch itself in the form of their Defense Innovation Unit – Experimental (DIUX) that researches technology like A.I.
AIWS considers all possible applications of A.I. and robotics. For that reason, we work together with both companies like Google, and organizations like the U.S. Naval War College. At the same time, we are working hard to ensure that this technology is used to create a better, safer, more secure world. On April 25, we will announce our Ethical Framework for AI for this very purpose. The framework is a 7-layer model, with the third layer focusing on standards. We hope this model will help make the world better, safer, more transparent.