In a significant policy shift, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has announced that it will permit U.S. government agencies and contractors working on national security to utilize its AI models for military applications.
The New York Times reports that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has made a notable exception to its “acceptable use policy” by allowing the U.S. government and its allies to harness the company’s AI technology for military purposes. The decision aims to promote “responsible and ethical uses” of AI that support the United States and “democratic values” in the global race for AI supremacy.
According to Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, the company will make its AI models, known as Llama, available to federal agencies and defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Booz Allen, Palantir, and Anduril. The Llama models are open-source, meaning that other developers, companies, and governments can freely copy and distribute the technology.
Meta’s move marks a departure from its previous stance, which prohibited the use of its AI software for military, warfare, and nuclear industries, among other purposes. The company believes that supporting the U.S. government and its closest allies in their use of AI serves both economic and security interests. Meta will share its technology with members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which includes Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, in addition to the United States.
The decision to open-source its AI code has been part of Meta’s strategy to catch up with rivals like OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and Anthropic in the AI race. As of August, Meta’s software has been downloaded more than 350 million times by third-party developers. However, this approach has also drawn scrutiny, as some argue that the technology behind AI software is too powerful and susceptible to misuse to be released openly.
Meta’s executives have expressed concerns about potential harsh regulations on open-source AI by the U.S. government and others. These fears were heightened last week following a Reuters report that research institutions with ties to the Chinese government had used Llama to build software applications for the People’s Liberation Army. Meta disputed the report, stating that the Chinese government was not authorized to use Llama for military purposes.
In his blog post, Clegg emphasized that the U.S. government could leverage the technology to track terrorist activities and enhance cybersecurity across American institutions. He also repeatedly stressed that utilizing Meta’s AI models would help the United States maintain its technological edge over other nations.
The decision to allow military applications of its AI technology is likely to draw scrutiny for Meta, as such collaborations between Silicon Valley tech companies and military contractors or defense agencies have proven contentious in recent years. Employees at Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have vocally protested some of the deals their companies reached with military entities.
Read more at the New York Times here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
