OpenAI, the company behind the essential ChatGPT, announced the signing of a partnership with Anduril, a military startup which produces missiles, drones and software on behalf of the American army.
As part of this new contract, the OpenAI-Anduril pair will focus on improving purely defensive technologies, such as tracking and intercepting devices that could threaten US interests, such as combat drones. . AI models from Sam Altman’s company could therefore help Anduril detect these hostile aircraft and put them out of harm’s way.
A fairly radical change of direction
Not so long ago, an agreement of this kind would have been unthinkable, because OpenAI’s internal policy explicitly prohibited the integration of its technology into military systems.. But last January, Sam Altman’s team discreetly modified this charter to relax this rule – a particularly eloquent warning sign.
Just three months later, The Intercept revealed that Microsoft, OpenAI’s main sponsor, had offered its DALL-E… image generation system to the Pentagon, which could use it to improve its reconnaissance and planning systems. In October, a new investigation by theIntercept also revealed that the US military is already using some OpenAI technologies. This is therefore not the first time that Sam Altman and his troops have flirted with the military industry, quite the contrary. The firm is even doing everything to position itself as a key player in this sector.
OpenAI assures that this shift does not constitute a denial of its own ideals, and that it must be seen as a patriotic commitment. « OpenAI builds AI systems for the benefit of the many, and supports the efforts of the United States to ensure that the technology will be used to serve democratic values said CEO Sam Altman in a joint statement. “ Our partnership with Anduril will help ensure OpenAI technology protects U.S. military personnel and help the national security community understand and responsibly use this technology to keep our citizens safe and free. »
A trend in the world of AI
OpenAI is not the only startup specializing in AI to take this path. Overall, we are witnessing a real change of tone in the world of artificial intelligence; many big names in this industry who used to firmly reject any collaboration with the armed forces ended up making an about-face.
A few weeks ago, Anthropic, one of OpenAI’s main rivals, signed a similar contract with Palantir — a big name in the American military industry specializing in data analysis and processing. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, also announced that it was making its open source Llama models available to numerous Defense employees such as Anduril, Palantir and Lockheed Martin, a historic titan of the military industry.
This trend highlights the growing strategic importance of artificial intelligence. The more time passes, the more this technology becomes an important component of the balance of power between the great military powers that are the United States, China and even Europe. The latter are all starting to equip themselves with systems based on this technology. And this dynamic will probably intensify over the coming years.
🟣 To not miss any news on the WorldOfSoftware, , .
