Chinese researchers linked to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the military wing of China’s ruling party, have reportedly used Meta’s “open” AI to develop a tool for defense applications.
According to Reuters, Chinese researchers, including two affiliated with a PLA research and development group, used Meta’s Llama 2 AI model to create a military-oriented chatbot. The chatbot, called ChatBIT, is designed to collect and process intelligence, Reuters reports, as well as to offer insights for operational decision-making.
Meta told Reuters in a statement that use of the “unique and outdated” Llama model – Llama 2 is about a year old – was “unauthorized” and against its acceptable use policy. Reuters says it has not been able to confirm ChatBIT’s capabilities or computing power.
The report provides some of the first evidence that the Chinese military has attempted to exploit open models for defense purposes – which is sure to fuel debate over the merits and risks of open AI.