Passing on an article from today's WSJ that I want to save, using MindBlog as my personal archive:
OpenAI Forges Tie-Up To Defense Industry
OpenAI , the artificial-intelligence company behind Chat-GPT, is getting into the business of war.
The world’s most valuable AI company has agreed to work with Anduril Industries, a
leading defense-tech startup, to add its technology to systems the U.S.
military uses to counter drone attacks. The partnership, which the
companies announced Wednesday, marks OpenAI’s deepest involvement yet
with the Defense Department and its first tie-up with a commercial
weapons maker.
It is the latest example of Silicon Valley’s dramatic turn from
shunning the Pentagon a few years ago to forging deeper ties with the
national security complex.
OpenAI, valued at more than $150 billion, previously barred its AI
from being used in military and warfare. In January, it changed its
policies to allow some collaborations with the military.
While the company still prohibits the use of its technology in
offensive weapons, it has made deals with the Defense Department for
cybersecurity work and other projects. This year, OpenAI added former
National Security Agency chief Paul Nakasone to its board and hired
former Defense Department official Sasha Baker to create a team focused
on national-security policy.
Other tech companies are making similar moves, arguing that the U.S.
must treat AI technology as a strategic asset to bolster national
security against countries like China. Last month, startup Anthropic
said it would give access to its AI to the U.S. military through a
partnership with Palantir Technologies.
OpenAI will incorporate its tech into Anduril’s counterdrone systems software, the companies said.
The Anduril systems detect, assess and track unmanned aircraft. If a
threatening drone is identified, militaries can use electronic jamming,
drones and other means to take it down.
The AI could improve the accuracy and speed of detecting and
responding to drones, putting fewer people in harm’s way, Anduril said.
The Anduril deal ties OpenAI to some tech leaders who have espoused conservative
ideals
and backed Donald Trump. Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey was an early
and vocal Trump supporter from the tech industry. Luckey’s sister is
married to Matt Gaetz, Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department
before he withdrew from consideration.
Luckey is also close to Trump’s ally, Elon Musk.
Musk has praised Luckey’s entrepreneurship and encouraged him to join the Trump transition team.
Luckey has, at times, fashioned himself as a younger Musk and
references Musk as a pioneer in selling startup technology to the
Pentagon.
The alliance between Anduril and OpenAI might also help buffer the AI
company’s chief executive, Sam Altman, from possible backlash from Musk,
who has openly disparaged Altman and sued his company. Musk was a
co-founder of OpenAI but stepped
away from the company in 2018 after clashing with Altman over the
company’s direction. Last year. Musk founded a rival AI lab, x.AI.
At an event on Wednesday, Altman said he didn’t think Musk would use his close relationship with Trump to undermine rivals.
“It would be profoundly un-American to use political power to the
degree that Elon has it to hurt your competitors,” Altman said at the
New York Times’s DealBook conference in New York City. “I don’t think
people would tolerate that. I don’t think Elon would do it.”
Anduril is leading the push by venture-backed startups to sell
high-tech, AI-powered systems to replace traditional tanks and attack
helicopters. The company sells weapons to militaries around the world
and AI software that enables the weapons to act autonomously.
Anduril Chief Executive Officer Brian Schimpf said in a statement that
adding OpenAI technology to Anduril systems will “enable military and
intelligence operators to make faster, more accurate decisions in
high-pressure situations.”
Anduril, valued at $14 billion, is one of the few success stories among
a crowd of fledgling defense startups. In November, the company
announced a $200 million contract to provide the U.S. Marine Corps with
its counterdrone system. The company said the Defense Department uses
the counterdrone systems to protect military installations.
As part of this agreement, OpenAI’s technology won’t be used with Anduril’s other weapons systems, the companies said.
Altman said in a statement that his company wants to “ensure the technology upholds democratic values.”
The companies declined to comment on the financial terms of the partnership.
Technology entrepreneurs, backed by billions of dollars in venture
capital, have bet that future conflicts will hinge on large numbers of
small, AIpowered autonomous systems to attack and defend. Defense--tech
companies and some Pentagon leaders say the U.S. military needs better
AI for a potential conflict with China and other sophisticated
adversaries.
AI has proved increasingly important for keeping drones in the air
after the rise of electronic warfare, which uses jammers to block GPS
signals and radio frequencies that drones use to fly. AI can also help
soldiers and military chiefs filter large amounts of battlefield data.
Wading deeper into defense opens another source of revenue for OpenAI,
which seeks to evolve from the nonprofit lab of its roots to a
moneymaking leader in the AI industry. The computing costs to develop
and operate AI models are exorbitant, and the company is losing billions
of dollars a year.