Google Announces New AI Ethos Following Project Maven Debacle

Google will cease work on the US Defense Department’s Project Maven when its contract expires next year, ending a controversial partnership between the tech giant and the military. The ensuing controversy has captivated data scientists and the public, embroiling the company in the ongoing debate about the ethics of artificial intelligence and the technology’s destructive potential. An investigation of the situation reveals there’s more to it than meets the eye.

What is Project Maven?

The word “Maven“, as made popular in Malcolm Gladwell’s bestseller The Tipping Point, connotes an individual who is first to become aware of new or nascent trends. That makes it a (reasonably) apt title for the Pentagon’s multi-billion dollar initiative. This new initiative aims to integrate and consolidate the US military’s artificial intelligence capabilities across its many units and departments.

Announced in April 2017, Maven aims specifically to, “turn the enormous volume of data available to DoD into actionable intelligence and insights at speed,” in recognition of “increasingly capable adversaries and competitors” in the areas of AI and big data.

Google’s contract with the Pentagon involved aiding with the initial phase of Project Maven — building enhanced computer vision algorithms for object detection and classification using copious amounts of FMV (full motion video) from the military’s automated assets, such as its MQ-1 Predator Drones. Image recognition in drones has already enabled new methods for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and, to an unclear extent, targeting.

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