Andrew NG, the founder and former leader of Google Brain, takes charge of Google’s recent decision to remove his commitment not to build AI systems for weapons.
“I am very happy that Google has changed its position,” NG said in an interview on stage Thursday evening with Techcrunch at the San Francisco San Francisco startups conference.
Earlier this week, Google deleted a seven -year commitment from its web page of AI principles, which promised that the company would not design AI for weapons or surveillance. In addition to the deletion, Google has published a blog Written by the CEO of Deepmind Demis Hassabis, who noted that companies and governments should work together to build the AI which “supports national security”.
Google carried out its commitment of arms in IA in 2018 following the Maven Protets project, in which thousands of employees protested against the contracts of the company with the American army. The demonstrators specifically challenged Google providing an AI for a military program that has helped interpret video images and could be used to improve the precision of drone strikes.
NG, however, was disconcerted by the Maven Proters project, he told an audience largely made up of veterans.
“Frankly, when the Maven project fell […] Many of you come out, ready to shed blood so that our country was protecting us all, “said NG. “So how can he deviable an American company refuse to help our own services there, fight for us?”
NG did not work at Google when the Maven Protets project occurred, but it played a key role in the training of Google’s efforts around AI and neurons networks. Today, NG runs a venture capital studio focused on AI, an AI fund, and frequently speaks of AI policy.
Later, NG said that it was grateful that two regulatory efforts of AI – the California bill, SB 1047, and overthrew the executive order of Biden – were no longer involved .
The real AI American security key has argued NG, is to ensure that America can compete with China technologically. He noted that AI drones “would completely revolutionize the battlefield”.
He is not the only former Google executive to broadcast this message. The former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, now spends his days Press Washington DC to buy drones ai To compete with China; His business, White Stork, could possibly provide these drones.
While NG and Schmidt seem to support the use of AI by the military, the subject has divided the ranks within Google for years.
Meredith Whittaker, now president of Signal, directed Maven’s demonstrations in 2018 while working at Google as a researcher of the AI. When Google made a commitment not to renew its Maven contracts, Whittaker said that it was satisfied with the decision, noting the company “should not be in the field of war. “”
She is not the only Googler whose dismen. Former Google AI and Nobel-Laureate Geoffrey Hinton researcher before called on global governments to prohibit and regulate the use of AI in weapons. Another long -standing and revered google leader, Jeff Dean – now a chief scientist of Deepmind – before signed a letter opposing the use of automatic learning in autonomous weapons.
In recent years, Google and Amazon have fallen under renewed control for their military work, including their Nimbus project contracts with the Israeli government. Employees of the two cloud suppliers organized sit-ins last year to protest against the Nimbus project, under which Google and Amazon would have provided cloud computing services to Israeli defense forces.
The Pentagon and the military around the world have a renewed appetite to use AI, said AI head of the Ministry of Defense, Techcrunch told Techcrunch. While Google, Amazon, Microsoft and other technology giants invest hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure, many seek to recover this investment through military partnerships.
