Andrew Ng backs Google’s military pivot
Former Google Brain leader, Andrew Ng, praises Google for dropping principle against developing AI for military use
Andrew Ng, renowned researcher, advocate, investor, and founder of Google Brain (also known for his ground-breaking work in discovering the neural networks and pathways that are behind many of today’s AI systems) is “very glad that Google has changed its stance,” and decided to drop its pledge not to build AI systems for weapons.
He believes that the 7-year-old principle—which Google quietly removed from its set of AI Principles last week, alongside a PR statement justifying its decision, arguing that “companies, governments, and organizations should work together to create AI that protects people, promotes global growth, and supports national security”—was a self-inflicted barrier to innovation. He was in full support of the argument that morally, AI companies shouldn’t “refuse to help our own service people that are out there, fighting for us,” also noting that the key to AI safety in the US was to make sure the US can compete with China, stating that AI drones would “completely revolutionize the battlefield.”
Google’s initial AI weapons pledge was first introduced in 2018, in response to the Project Maven protests which saw thousands of Google employees rally against the company’s contracts with the US military, specifically one that supplied them with an AI system to interpret video images to improve drone strike accuracy.