The Pentagon may have gained a new, high-profile partner for its sophisticated AI system used to hunt for militants in Iraq and Syria.
Silicon Valley giant Google is working with the Department of Defense to develop advanced artificial intelligence for analyzing drone footage, Gizmodo reported, citing sources close to the situation.
The partnership centers around Project Maven, which is the codename for a system that analyzes aerial surveillance video to look for patterns that can military intelligence analysts.
And it seems some Google employees aren’t happy with the move.
The Department of Defense announced Project Maven last April, which was tasked with identifying objects and people in drone footage. The U.S. Air Force uses unmanned aerial vehicles like the MQ-1B (pictured), which was later retired as they started using MQ-9 drones
Many Google staffers were ‘outraged’ that the company would work alongside the government to develop drone surveillance technology, while others argued that it could raise ethical questions about the use of machine learning technology, Gizmodo said.
The pilot project has not been made public, but Google has detailed the effort among employees via internal communications
Google has reiterated to its staff that Project Maven doesn’t involve using AI for combat efforts.
Unveiled last April, Project Maven was tasked with developing artificial intelligence that can ingest large amounts of aerial drone video and look for patterns in the footage, flagging certain people, objects and other activity.
The project was created after thousands of military and civilian intelligence analysts said they were ‘overwhelmed’ by the amount of video being recorded over the battlefield by drones with high resolution cameras.
It aimed to provide the military with advanced computer vision, enabling the detection and identification of objects in up to 38 categories that are captured by the drone’s full-motion camera, according to Gizmodo.
In short, it gives the Pentagon the ability to track certain individuals’ whereabouts as they come and go.
Google hasn’t announced publicly that it’s working with the Pentagon on outfitting drones with AI. However, company emails show that employees are ‘outraged’ by the move, Gizmodo said. File photo
Air Force Lieutenant General John N.T. ‘Jack’ Shanahan, who was tasked with finding the new technology, said the goal was to figure out a way to clean up the video, ‘finding the juicy parts where there’s activity and then labeling the data.’
Project Maven, also known as the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team, was expected to discover the technology and have it up and running within six months of the project being launched.
Starting last December, the Defense Department began using Project Maven’s AI in the fight against the Islamic State.
It’s part of the military’s wider efforts to deploy AI and machine learning, as the Department of Defense spent $7.4 billion on AI-related areas in 2017, according to the Wall Street Journal.
At the same time, more and more concerns have started to develop around the use of AI in security and law enforcement.
Some argue that AI and machine learning can exhibit racial bias when used in policing and other areas.
For example, big data startup Palantir Technologies has been working secretly with local law enforcement groups in cities across the U.S. to outfit police with AI that can predict people and places where crimes are most likely to occur, also called predictive policing.
This technology has come under fire in the past for exhibiting racial bias.
Google was previously known to have had ties to the Defense Department.
Pictured is footage of a truck from the view of a camera on a MQ-9 Reaper, which is an unmanned aerial vehicle used by the military for surveillance purposes in war zones
Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt (pictured) chair’s the Defense Department’s Defense Innovation Board. The board has advised Project Maven on artificial intelligence
Eric Schmidt, who is executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, heads the Defense Department’s Defense Innovation Board.
The board has worked closely with Project Maven, providing oversight and expertise in some areas.
In July, the Defense Innovation Board held a meeting surrounding the need to enhance the military’s AI capabilities.
A Google spokesperson told Gizmodo that the firm is providing the Defense Department with TensorFlow application programming interfaces (APIs), which are used in machine learning applications, to help military personnel detect objects in images.
The spokesperson said the company is also trying ‘to develop polices and safeguards around its use,’ Gizmodo noted.
‘We have long worked with government agencies to provide technology solutions,’ a Google spokesperson told Gizmodo.
WHAT IS AI’S ROLE IN DRONE WARFARE?
The U.S. military has been looking to incorporate elements of artificial intelligence and machine learning into its drone program.
Project Maven, as the effort is known, aims to provide some relief to military analysts who are part of the war against Islamic State.
These analysts currently spend long hours staring at big screens reviewing video feeds from drones as part of the hunt for insurgents in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Pentagon is trying to develop algorithms that would sort through the material and alert analysts to important finds, according to Air Force Lieutenant General John N.T. ‘Jack’ Shanahan, director for defense intelligence for warfighting support.
A British Royal Air Force Reaper hunter killer unmanned aerial vehicle on the flight line February 21, 2014 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Military bosses say intelligence analysts are ‘overwhelmed’ by the amount of video being recorded over the battlefield by drones with high resolution cameras
‘A lot of times these things are flying around(and)… there’s nothing in the scene that’s of interest,’ he told Reuters.
Shanahan said his team is currently trying to teach the system to recognize objects such as trucks and buildings, identify people and, eventually, detect changes in patterns of daily life that could signal significant developments.
‘We’ll start small, show some wins,’ he said.
A Pentagon official said the U.S. government is requesting to spend around $30 million on the effort in 2018.
Similar image recognition technology is being developed commercially by firms in Silicon Valley, which could be adapted by adversaries for military reasons.
Shanahan said he’ not surprised that Chinese firms are making investments there.
‘They know what they’re targeting,’ he said.
Research firm CB Insights says it has tracked 29 investors from mainland China investing in U.S. artificial intelligence companies since the start of 2012.
The risks extend beyond technology transfer.
‘When the Chinese make an investment in an early stage company developing advanced technology, there is an opportunity cost to the U.S. since that company is potentially off-limits for purposes of working with (the Department of Defense),’ the report said.
In describing the technology, the spokesperson said the object recognition flags images for human review and is for ‘non-offensive’ uses only.
‘Military use of machine learning naturally raises valid concerns,’ the spokesperson told Gizmodo.
‘We’re actively discussing this important topic internally and with others as we continue to develop policies and safeguards around the development and use of our machine learning technologies,’ the spokesperson added.
A Department of Defense spokesperson declined to comment on Google’s work with Project Maven.