Meta has announced that it is making its open source AI model, Llama, available to the US government and associated organizations in order to help make the country and world a safer place.
The company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp says that the wider use of its artificial intelligence technology will “support the prosperity and security of the United States”, as well as establishing the country as the standard bearer in the global race for AI leadership.
The announcement suggests that the social media giant is particularly anxious about China’s advancements in the world of AI, with the country’s utility of the technology reportedly growing exponentially.
Prosperity and Security
While Meta is already partnering with the US State Department on other initiatives, it is now specifically making Llama available to government agencies and contractors working on national security applications.
The offer was vocalized in a blog post from the company’s President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, titled ‘Open Source AI Can Help America Lead in AI and Strengthen Global Security’.
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In it, he explains that the use of AI can help “streamline complicated logistics and planning, track terrorist financing or strengthen our cyber defenses”, and that open source systems have long been a crucial asset in US military advancements.
“Due to their ability to process vast amounts of data, reason, and generate usable insights, large language models can support many aspects of America’s safety and national security.” – Nick Clegg, Meta
According to Clegg, the “responsible and ethical” use of open source AI models like Llama are necessary to provide the country with prosperity and security.
It’s certainly not the first time a major tech company has given the government a helping hand in the interests of national security. Earlier this year, for instance, Microsoft released an internet-free AI model to give the CIA a secure way to analyze top secret information.
Private Sector Partnerships
In addition to making Llama’s components open to the government to use directly, the post also explains that Meta is already working with private sector partners such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Deloitte, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Oracle and Snowflake in their work on defense.
It uses computer technology company Oracle as a case study – it’s using Llama to help “synthesize aircraft maintenance documents”, which assists technicians in getting military aircraft back in service more quickly.
AWS and Microsoft, it says, are both using Llama “to support governments by hosting our models on their secure cloud solutions for sensitive data”. While aerospace manufacturer Lockheed Martin has incorporated it for code generation, data analysis and enhancing business processes.
China Crisis?
There is also a sense to Clegg’s post of an increasing anxiety in relation to China’s greater use of AI in the power’s own national interests – a study recently showed that China is outpacing the US in AI use in the workplace.
He cites Linux and Android as prime examples from recent history where the open source spirit of collaboration has helped to advance the technology, and that AI development will become embedded in technology and infrastructure around the world “whether the United States engages or not”.
“We believe it is in both America and the wider democratic world’s interest for American open source models to excel and succeed over models from China and elsewhere.” – Nick Clegg, Meta
It seems that China is already winning the race to develop quantum computers, and it was reported by the South China Morning Post (paywalled) in 2020 that the state was investing approximately $1.4 trillion in key technologies that include artificial intelligence.
