Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
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Next-Generation Technologies & Secure Development
Policy Shift Allows Military Contractors, Security Agencies Access to its AI Model
Meta revised Monday its policy of prohibiting military use of artificial intelligence model Llama, allowing U.S. national security agencies and defense contractors access to the large language model.
The social media giant said it is working with defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Booz Allen, defense-focused tech firms including Palantir and Anduril, as well as cloud companies Amazon Web Services and Snowflake.
The company prohibits the use of Llama for “military, warfare, nuclear industries or applications,” but has in the past reportedly made exceptions for national security agencies in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Meta President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said Meta supports “responsible and ethical uses.” of AI. “Meta wants to play its part to support the safety, security and economic prosperity of America – and of its closest allies too,” he said, adding that “widespread adoption of American open source AI models serves both economic and security interests.”
Meta calls its Llama models open source, but they don’t truly function like one: the company allows free use of the LLMs, even for commercial and profit-making purposes, but keeps under wraps its training data.
The company’s decision to allow military use in the U.S. may face scrutiny, especially in light of the LLM’s reported use by Chinese government-affiliated researchers to develop military software for the People’s Liberation Army. While Meta told Reuters that its Llama AI was not authorized for such use, the incident has intensified concerns around AI’s vulnerability to misuse. Meta has maintained that public access to AI code will help it boost safety, in contrast with OpenAI and Google’s stand claiming that their models are too powerful to be used without restrictions.
Clegg repeatedly assderted in the blog post that Llama will help the U.S. remain a step ahead of other nations in terms of technology advancements. The Biden administration published in October a national security memorandum laying out guidance for the adoption of AI tools for national security (see: Biden Administration Seeks National Security Edge in AI).