Project Maven is a controversial military effort that began in 2018 and that Google was a part of before Google employees pointed out that the company “should not be in the business of war”, as a result thousands of employees protested and around a dozen resigned from office.
Social and employee pressure caused Google to withdraw from Project Maven, however, other companies such as Amazon and Microsoft took their place and the project continues today.
Project Maven runs its course
However, the United States Department of Defense knows that it has a strong trust problem, so it was necessary to address it with the intention of maintaining access to technology, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI) which comes mainly from the Big Tech.
As a result of the efforts, the Defense Innovation unit, which awards the contracts to the companies, published what it called “Responsible Artificial Intelligence Guidelines”These require third-party developers to use them when creating AI for the military.
In other words, the guidelines provide a step-by-step process that companies must follow during technology planning, development, and implementation. The parameters also include procedures to identify who could use the technology, who could be harmed by it, and what the harm could be and how to avoid it.
Its more general purpose is to make sure outside tech companies adhere to the Department of Defense’s ethical principles for creating AI, said Bryce Goodman of the Defense Innovation Unit, who co-authored the guidelines.
However, there are still gray areas to take into consideration, for example. The guidelines say nothing about the use of lethal autonomous weapons, one of the technologies that activists are most concerned about and which they say should be banned.
Likewise, Goodman stated, “There will be people who will never be satisfied with any set of ethical guidelines that the Department of Defense develops because they find the idea paradoxical,” says Goodman. “It is important to be realistic about what the guidelines can and cannot do.”