First up, from the New York Times, November 4:
Meta Permits Its A.I. Models to Be Used for U.S. Military Purposes
The shift in policy, covering government agencies and contractors working on national security, is intended to promote “responsible and ethical” innovations, the company said.
Meta will allow U.S. government agencies and contractors working on national security to use its artificial intelligence models for military purposes, the company said on Monday, in a shift from its policy that prohibited the use of its technology for such efforts.
Meta said that it would make its A.I. models, called Llama, available to federal agencies and that it was working with defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Booz Allen as well as defense-focused tech companies including Palantir and Anduril. The Llama models are “open source,” which means the technology can be freely copied and distributed by other developers, companies and governments.
Meta’s move is an exception to its “acceptable use policy,” which forbade the use of the company’s A.I. software for “military, warfare, nuclear industries,” among other purposes.
In a blog post on Monday, Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, said the company now backed “responsible and ethical uses” of the technology that supported the United States and “democratic values” in a global race for A.I. supremacy....
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Now is the time we juxtapose.
From The Jamestown Foundation's China Brief, October 31:
PRC Adapts Meta’s Llama for Military and Security AI Applications
Executive Summary:
- Researchers in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have optimized Meta’s Llama model for specialized military and security purposes.
- ChatBIT, an adapted Llama model, appears to be successful in demonstrations in which it was used in military contexts such as intelligence, situational analysis, and mission support, outperforming other comparable models.
- Open-source models like Llama are valuable for innovation, but their deployment to enhance the capabilities of foreign militaries raises concerns about dual-use applications. The customization of Llama by defense researchers in the PRC highlights gaps in enforcement for open-source usage restrictions, underscoring the need for stronger oversight to prevent strategic misuse.
In September, the former deputy director of the Academy of Military Sciences (AMS), Lieutenant General He Lei (何雷), called for the United Nations to establish restrictions on the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in warfare (Sina Finance, September 13). This would suggest that Beijing has an interest in mitigating the risks associated with military AI. Instead, the opposite is true. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is currently leveraging AI to enhance its own military capabilities and strategic advantages and is using Western technology to do so.
The military and security sectors within the PRC are increasingly focused on integrating advanced AI technologies into operational capabilities. Meta’s open-source model Llama (Large Language Model Meta AI) has emerged as a preferred model on which to build out features tailored for military and security applications. In this way, US and US-derived technology is being deployed as a tool to enhance the PRC’s military modernization and domestic innovation efforts, with direct consequences for the United States and its allies and partners.
PLA Experts’ Vision for Military AI
The PRC’s 2019 National Defense White Paper, titled “China’s National Defense for the New Era (新时代的中国国防),” notes that modern warfare is shifting toward increasingly informationized (信息化) and intelligentized (智能化) domains, demanding advances in mechanization, informationization, and AI development (Xinhua, July 24, 2019).
AI development in the military has accelerated in direct response to the demands of intelligent warfare, which itself has been propelled by recent technological advances. Experts from AMS and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have highlighted several key capabilities that AI systems must achieve to meet the PLA’s evolving military needs. First, large AI models must enable rapid response and decision-making to enhance battlefield situational awareness and support command functions. This includes autonomous mission planning and assisting commanders in making informed decisions under complex conditions. Strengthening the fusion of information from multiple sources is also seen as crucial, using AI to integrate data from satellite feeds, cyber intelligence, and communication intercepts. This is then used to deepen intelligence analysis and support joint operations, as highlighted by the PLA Joint Operation Outline (中国人民解放军联合作战纲要), which entered its trial implementation phase in 2020 (MOD, November 26, 2020). [1]
Military AI is also being applied extensively to cognitive and psychological warfare (China Brief, September 6, 2019; September 8, 2023; June 21). Generative AI models can be deployed to produce media content to influence narratives, conduct strategic influence campaigns, and undermine an adversary’s morale, according to AMS experts. [2] Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT can also rapidly integrate diverse information sources to enhance military intelligence analysis. With strong language processing capabilities, they can simplify data extraction, support real-time translation, and transform complex data into actionable insights, aiding military personnel in decision-making on the modern battlefield.
Experts within the military apparatus, including top defense industry players like the China Electronics Technology Group (CETC; 中国电子科技集团), are currently working on AI to enhance cybersecurity and network threat detection. One paper authored by employees at CETC argues that AI models can play a pivotal role in identifying and countering cyber threats and establishing robust early-warning systems to fortify military communication networks. [3] Another area of focus is predictive maintenance and supply chain management. Here, AI can be used to anticipate equipment failures and streamline supply logistics. This optimization is critical for the PLA’s sustained operational readiness, especially during prolonged engagements.
PLA experts are prioritizing the development of smaller, more “lightweight” AI models for deployment in resource-constrained environments like frontline operations. These models must be robust and capable of performing effectively with limited computational power, making them suitable for edge devices—small computers or sensors that can process data and operate without relying on distant servers. The Aiwu Large Model (艾武大模型) is a good example of this. According to one research paper, Aiwu offers cross-platform compatibility on both manned and unmanned systems, and can execute diverse mission tasks under challenging conditions. [4]
PLA experts consider military AI to be a foundational asset that must be highly adaptable, capable of integrating multimodal data and supporting autonomous decision-making in a wide range of tactical and strategic contexts. This approach stems from the understanding that future warfare will demand intelligent systems capable of processing real-time data, making proactive decisions, and synthesizing information from diverse sources. [5]
PRC Researchers Adapt Llama to Meet Military Demands
The potential that PRC researchers see in Meta’s Llama model lies in the flexibility and efficiency of its foundational model. This makes it useful for adaptation to various military and security systems. [6] A recent iteration, Llama 3.1, was launched in July and was described as having “capabilities that rival the best closed source models” (Meta, July 23). (Llama 3.2 was released on September 25, and so has not yet been treated in relevant research.) As an open-source model, developers and researchers can modify and innovate on top of it. PRC security researchers have focused on adapting it for multilingual dialogue, high-quality code generation, and complex mathematical problem-solving. [7] They argue that the transformer model—an architecture for deep learning models that powers text-generating models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Meta’s Llama, and Google’s Gemini—enhances performance in tasks such as information summarization, threat analysis, and decision-making support that are crucial for defense and public safety (ACM, December 4, 2017). [8]....
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