{"id":259479,"date":"2024-04-15T12:00:22","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T11:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=259479"},"modified":"2024-04-12T07:13:43","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T06:13:43","slug":"microsoft-pitched-openais-dall-e-as-battlefield-tool-for-u-s-military","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/04\/microsoft-pitched-openais-dall-e-as-battlefield-tool-for-u-s-military\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Pitched OpenAI\u2019s DALL-E as Battlefield Tool for U.S. Military"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In this photo illustration, a DALL-E 2 software logo is seen on a smartphone screen in Ukraine on 2 Feb 2023.
Photo Illustration by Pavlo GoncharSOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

Any battlefield use of the software would be a dramatic turnaround for OpenAI, which describes its mission as developing AI that can benefit all of humanity. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

10 Apr 2024<\/em> – Microsoft last year<\/span> proposed using OpenAI\u2019s mega-popular image generation tool, DALL-E, to help the Department of Defense build software to execute military operations, according to internal presentation materials reviewed by The Intercept. The revelation comes just months after OpenAI silently ended<\/a> its prohibition against military work.<\/p>\n

The Microsoft presentation deck, titled \u201cGenerative AI with DoD Data<\/a>,\u201d provides a general breakdown of how the Pentagon can make use of OpenAI\u2019s machine learning tools, including the immensely popular ChatGPT text generator and DALL-E image creator, for tasks ranging from document analysis to machine maintenance. (Microsoft invested $10 billion in the ascendant machine learning startup last year, and the two businesses have become tightly intertwined. In February, The Intercept and other digital news outlets\u00a0sued Microsoft and OpenAI<\/a>\u00a0for using their journalism without permission or credit.)<\/p>\n

The Microsoft document is drawn from a large cache of materials presented at an October 2023 Department of Defense \u201cAI literacy\u201d training seminar hosted by the U.S. Space Force in Los Angeles. The event included a variety of presentation from machine learning firms, including Microsoft and OpenAI, about what they have to offer the Pentagon.<\/p>\n

The publicly accessible files were found on the website of Alethia Labs, a nonprofit consultancy that helps the federal government with technology acquisition, and discovered by journalist Jack Poulson<\/a>. On Wednesday, Poulson published a broader investigation<\/a> into the presentation materials. Alethia Labs has worked closely with the Pentagon to help it quickly integrate artificial intelligence tools into its arsenal, and since last year has contracted with the Pentagon\u2019s main AI office. The firm did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

One page of the Microsoft presentation highlights a variety of \u201ccommon\u201d federal uses for OpenAI, including for defense. One bullet point under \u201cAdvanced Computer Vision Training\u201d reads: \u201cBattle Management Systems: Using the DALL-E models to create images to train battle management systems.\u201d Just as it sounds, a battle management system is a command-and-control software suite that provides military leaders with a situational overview of a combat scenario, allowing them to coordinate things like artillery fire, airstrike target identification, and troop movements. The reference to computer vision training suggests artificial images conjured by DALL-E could help Pentagon computers better \u201csee\u201d conditions on the battlefield, a particular boon for finding \u2014 and annihilating \u2014 targets.<\/p>\n

In an emailed statement, Microsoft told The Intercept that while it had pitched the Pentagon on using DALL-E to train its battlefield software, it had not begun doing so. \u201cThis is an example of potential use cases that was informed by conversations with customers on the art of the possible with generative AI.\u201d Microsoft, which declined to attribute the remark to anyone at the company, did not explain why a \u201cpotential\u201d use case was labeled as a \u201ccommon\u201d use in its presentation.<\/p>\n

OpenAI spokesperson Liz Bourgeous said OpenAI was not involved in the Microsoft pitch and that it had not sold any tools to the Department of Defense. \u201cOpenAI\u2019s policies prohibit the use of our tools to develop or use weapons, injure others or destroy property,\u201d she wrote. \u201cWe were not involved in this presentation and have not had conversations with U.S. defense agencies regarding the hypothetical use cases it describes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bourgeous added, \u201cWe have no evidence that OpenAI models have been used in this capacity. OpenAI has no partnerships with defense agencies to make use of our API or ChatGPT for such purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time of the presentation, OpenAI\u2019s policies seemingly would have prohibited a military use of DALL-E. Microsoft told The Intercept that if the Pentagon used DALL-E or any other OpenAI tool through a contract with Microsoft, it would be subject to the usage policies of the latter company. Still, any use of OpenAI technology to help the Pentagon more effectively kill and destroy would be a dramatic turnaround for the company, which describes its mission as developing safety-focused artificial intelligence that can benefit all of humanity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not possible to build a battle management system in a way that doesn\u2019t, at least indirectly, contribute to civilian harm.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not possible to build a battle management system in a way that doesn\u2019t, at least indirectly, contribute to civilian harm,\u201d Brianna Rosen, a visiting fellow at Oxford University\u2019s Blavatnik School of Government who focuses on technology ethics.<\/p>\n

Rosen, who worked on the National Security Council during the Obama administration, explained that OpenAI\u2019s technologies could just as easily be used to help people as to harm them, and their use for the latter by any government is a political choice. \u201cUnless firms such as OpenAI have written guarantees from governments they will not use the technology to harm civilians \u2014 which still probably would not be legally-binding \u2014 I fail to see any way in which companies can state with confidence that the technology will not be used (or misused) in ways that have kinetic effects.\u201d<\/p>\n