Palantir Among First Tech Firms To Promise White House They Wont Use AI For Evil

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23 Sep, 2023

Palantir Among First Tech Firms To Promise White House They Wont Use AI For Evil

President Joe Biden focused on non-binding agreements with major technology companies on the use of artificial intelligence, but the White House did not mention the current military use of artificial intelligence made possible by some of these partner companies.

The Biden administration is trying to play a paternalistic role in managing the AI development of big tech companies. It's not necessarily about leadership, it's about putting a corrective hand on Big Tech's shoulders and telling them to be thoughtful and open about how they shape the future of transformative technology.

Some of the largest technology companies have embraced the White House's voluntary commitment to ethical AI, including some companies that are already using AI to help the military more effectively kill and surveil citizens in their homes.

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Despite the executive branch's ambitious goals for safe and clean AI, Palantir is already one of the most cited big tech companies in matters of technology ethics, or lack thereof. The data analysis company took the lead in developing data systems used by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement that only helped the agency spy on people in the US and arrest illegal immigrants. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, as critics have criticized Palantir for its use of racial predictive policing software.

Palantir CEO Shyam Sankar previously commented during a Senate Armed Services hearing that any kind of pause in AI development would mean China could overtake the United States in technological superiority. He insisted that the United States would pump more money into the defense budget, and invest more money in “capabilities that instill fear in our adversaries.”

Imagine using AI in information warfare, Palantir CEO Alex Karp said at a February summit on military AI technology. The company already provides data analysis software for battlefield targets to the Ukrainian military, Karp said. However, the CEO said there must be “an architecture that allows transparency between data sources,” which should be “required by law.” Of course, Palantir has not released its data for any of its many military contracts.

In an emailed statement to Gizmodo, Akash Jain, head of US government at Palantir, said: “Today, Palantir, along with other leading AI companies, entered into a series of voluntary commitments to effectively advance AI governance, which is Essential for openness Competition and maintaining U.S. industry leadership Innovation and technology The company did not respond to Gizmodo's questions about its ongoing military and government contracts in AI.

This does not mean that other major technology companies, including Google and Microsoft, have not entered into their own contracts with military contractors, such as the recent HoloLens project aimed at military activities. Google was previously responsible for the military contract called Project Maven, a US Department of Defense program that seeks to use artificial intelligence to analyze people and potential targets from drone footage without the need for human intervention. Google abandoned that project after protests in 2018, but in 2019 reports indicated that Palantir had picked up where Google left off.

So far, the Biden administration has focused on non-binding recommendations and other executive orders to combat the spread of artificial intelligence. White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients told Reuters that the administration is "using every tool at our disposal" to address AI risks. However, we are still a long way from actually regulating AI by Congress, but knowing the role AI developers want to play in crafting new law, there is almost no sign of a law being developed, and real restrictions are being imposed on the destruction of the private sector. Individually. life. And military artificial intelligence.

Updated 12/23/9 at 4:06 PM ET : This post has been updated to include a statement from Palantir US President Akash Jain.