Page 12 - The Indian EYE 081823

The Indian Eye
OPINION AUGUST 18, 2023 12

have been polarizing, with some even
equating AI with the atom bomb and
terming the current phase of growth
in AI as the ‘Oppenheimer moment’,
after the scientist-philosopher J.
Robert Oppenheimer, under whom
the Manhattan Project was brought
to a fruitful conclusion with the test-
ing of the first atomic bomb. This was
the moment that signaled the start of
the first nuclear age—an era of living
under the nuclear shadow that per-
sists to this day. The Oppenheimer
moment, therefore, is a dividing line
between the conventional past and
the new present and presumably the
unknown future.
Some academics, activists and
even members of the Big Tech com-
munity, referred to as ‘AI doomers’
have coined a term, P(doom), in
an attempt to quantify the risk of a
doomsday scenario where a ‘run-
away superintelligence’ causes severe
harm to humanity or leads to human
extinction. Others refer to variations The military use of AI is an offshoot of the developments ripping through the Silicon Valleys (File photo)
of the ‘Paperclip Maximiser’, where
the AI is given a particular task to op- and generating adequately realistic one of the very few companies whose data scientists, which may lead to in-
timize by the humans, understands it videos, among others. This is now products are designed for significant advertent killing of civilians. Similar-
in the form of maximizing the num- available at a price—disinformation military use. ly, spoofing of the senior command-
ber of paperclips in the universe and as a service (DaaS)—at the fingertips Richard Moore, the head of ers’ voice and text messages may
proceeds to expend all resources of of an individual, making the creation United Kingdom’s (UK) MI6, on lead to passing of spurious and fatal
the planet in order to manufacture and dissemination of disinformation 19 July 2023 stated that his staff orders for formations. On the other
only paperclips. at scale, very easy. This is why the was using AI and big data analysis hand, the UK-led Future Combat Air
This thought experiment was voluntary commitments by the US to identify and disrupt the flow of System (FCAS) Tempest envisages a
used to signify the dangers of two Big Tech companies are just the be- weapons to Russia. Russia is testing wholly autonomous fighter with AI
issues with AI: the ‘orthogonality ginning of a regulatory process that its unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) integrated both during the design
thesis’, which refers to a highly intel- needs to be made enforceable, in Marker with an inbuilt AI which will and development phase (D&D) as
ligent AI that could interpret human line with legally binding safeguards seek out Leopard and Abrams tanks well as the identification and target-
goals in its own way and proceed to agreed to by UN members for re- on the battlefield and target them. ing phase during operations. The hu-
accomplish tasks which have no val- spective countries. However, despite being tested in a man, at best, will be on the loop.
ue to the humans; and ‘instrumental Slowly and steadily, the use of AI number of terrains such as forests, The military use of AI is an off-
convergence’ which implies AI tak- in military has been gaining ground. the Marker hasn’t been rolled out shoot of the developments ripping
ing control of all matter and energy The Russia-Ukraine war has seen for combat action in ongoing conflict through the Silicon Valley. As a re-
on the planet in addition to ensuring deployment of increasingly efficient against Ukraine. sult, the suggestions being offered to
that no one can shut it down or alter AI systems on both sides. Palantir, Ukraine has fitted its drones rein in the advancements in AI need
its goals. a company which specializes in AI- with rudimentary AI that can per- to move beyond self-censorship and
Apart from these alleged existen- based data fusion and surveillance form the most basic edge process- into the domain of regulation. This
tial dangers, the new wave of genera- services, has created a new prod- ing to identify platforms like tanks will be needed to ensure that the un-
tive AI, which has the potential of low- uct called the Palantir AI Platform and pass on only the relevant infor- warranted effects of these technolo-
ering and in certain cases, decimating (AIP). This uses large language mation (coordinates and nature of gies do not spill over into the modern
entry barriers to content creation in models (LLMs) and algorithms to platform) amounting to kilobytes of battlefield, already saturated with
text, image, audio and video format, designate, analyses and serve up sug- data to a vast shooter network. There lethal and precision-based weapons.
can adversely affect societies in the gestions for neutralizing adversary are obviously challenges in misiden-
short to medium term. Generative AI targets, in a chatbot mode. tifying objects and the task becomes Lt Col Akshat Upadhyay is Research
has the potential to birth the era of Though Palantir’s website clari- exceedingly difficult when identify- Fellow, Strategic Technologies Centre at
the ‘superhuman’, the lone wolf who fies that the system will only be de- ing and singling out individuals from Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense
can target state institutions through ployed across classified systems and the opposing side. Facial recognition Studies and Analyses, New Delhi
the click of his keyboard at will. use both classified and unclassified software’s have been used by the Views expressed are of the author and
The use of generative AI in the data to create operating pictures, Ukrainians to identify the bodies of
do not necessarily reflect the views of
hands of motivated individuals, non- there is no further information on the Russian soldiers killed in action for the Manohar Parrikar IDSA or of the
state and state actors, has the po- subject available in the open domain. propaganda uses. Government of India.
tential to generate disinformation The company has also assured on its It is not a far shot to imagine the
at scale. Most inimical actors and site that it will use “industry-lead- same being used for targeted killings This article first appeared in the
institutions have so far struggled to ing guardrails” to safeguard against using drones. The challenge here of Comments section of the website (www.
achieve this due to the difficulties unauthorized actions. The absence course is systemic bias and discrimi- idsa.in) of Manohar Parrikar Institute
of homing onto specific faultlines of Palantir from the White House nation in the AI model which creeps for Defense Studies and Analyses, New
within countries, using local dialects declaration is significant since it is in despite the best intentions of the Delhi on August 4, 2023

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