{"id":74826,"date":"2024-11-12T01:00:18","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T06:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=74826"},"modified":"2024-11-12T01:00:18","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T06:00:18","slug":"meta-now-allows-military-agencies-to-access-its-ai-software-it-poses-a-moral-dilemma-for-everybody-who-uses-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/meta-now-allows-military-agencies-to-access-its-ai-software-it-poses-a-moral-dilemma-for-everybody-who-uses-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Meta now allows military agencies to access its AI software. It poses a moral dilemma for everybody who uses it"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Meta will make its generative artificial intelligence (AI) models available to the United States\u2019 government, the tech giant has announced, in a controversial move that raises a moral dilemma for everyone who uses the software.<\/p>\n

Meta\u00a0last week revealed<\/a>\u00a0it would make the models, known as Llama, available to government agencies, \u201cincluding those that are working on defence and national security applications, and private sector partners supporting their work\u201d.<\/p>\n

The decision appears to contravene Meta\u2019s own\u00a0policy<\/a>\u00a0which lists a range of prohibited uses for Llama, including \u201c[m]ilitary, warfare, nuclear industries or applications\u201d as well as espionage, terrorism, human trafficking and exploitation or harm to children.<\/p>\n

Meta\u2019s exception\u00a0also reportedly applies<\/a>\u00a0to similar national security agencies in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It came just\u00a0three days after Reuters revealed<\/a>\u00a0China has reworked Llama for its own military purposes.<\/p>\n

The situation highlights the increasing fragility of open source AI software. It also means users of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger \u2013 some versions of which use Llama \u2013 may inadvertently be contributing to military programs around the world.<\/p>\n

What is Llama?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Llama<\/a>\u00a0is a collation of large language models \u2013 similar to ChatGPT \u2013 and large multimodal models that deal with data other than text, such as audio and images.<\/p>\n

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, released Llama in response to OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT. The key difference between the two is that\u00a0all Llama models are marketed as open source and free to use<\/a>. This means anyone can download the source code of a Llama model, and run and modify it themselves (if they have the right hardware). On the other hand, ChatGPT can only be accessed via OpenAI.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Open Source Initiative<\/a>, an authority that defines open source software, recently released a standard setting out what open source AI should entail. The standard outlines \u201cfour freedoms<\/a>\u201d an AI model must grant in order to be classified as open source:<\/p>\n