Meta is letting the US military use its Llama AI model for ‘national security applications’

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Meta will now work with government agencies to develop military applications
Concerns have been raised about security risks for AI
Researchers find evidence China has already used Llama for defense

Meta has announced it is offering the use of its Llama generative AI model to government organizations for ‘national security applications’, and that it is working with US agencies and contractors to support their work.

Amongst those Meta has partnered with are Lockheed Martin, AWS, and Oracle. An example the company has given is its work with Oracle to ‘synthesize aircraft maintenance documents’ to enable technicians to diagnose problems ‘more quickly and accurately’.

Lockheed Martin is also said to have incorporated Llama into its AI factory, which Meta says has accelerated code generation, data analysis, and enhanced business processes.

Step change on policy

This is a significant change from Llama’s acceptable use policy, which prohibits the use of models for “military, warfare, nuclear industries or applications, espionage”, and it specifically prohibits weapon development and promoting violence.

The use of AI in defense is challenged by some, who cite security concerns like potentially compromisable data. Other vulnerabilities, like bias and hallucinations, are intrinsic to AI and cannot be avoided, experts have warned.

The catalyst for this drastic change in policy could be the recent reports that China has used the model in its own military applications. Llama was reportedly used by the state to gather and process intelligence, creating ‘ChatBIT’ for military dialogue and question answering.

This was, of course, against Llama’s terms of use, but since the model is public and open source, the policy is difficult to enforce.

"In the global competition on AI, the alleged role of a single, and outdated, version of an American open-source model is irrelevant when we know China is already investing more than a trillion dollars to surpass the US on AI," Meta said in a statement.

Meta have confirmed it will also be making exceptions for government agencies in the other Five Eyes countries of Canada, Australia, the UK, and New Zealand.

Via TechCrunch

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Ellen has been writing for almost four years, with a focus on post-COVID policy whilst studying for BA Politics and International Relations at the University of Cardiff, followed by an MA in Political Communication. Before joining TechRadar Pro as a Junior Writer, she worked for Future Publishing’s MVC content team, working with merchants and retailers to upload content.