Which brings us to political economy – of course.
Because this turn to defense contracting that the large tech companies have been making is a key part of their revenue model.
Work by Tech Inquiry recently revealed that
the five largest US military contracts to major tech firms between 2019 and 2022
have contract ceilings of $53 billion.
And those are the ones we know of.
Due to the combination of military classification and corporate secrecy
– transparency
– let alone accountability
– is very hard to come by.
The use of #probabilistic techniques to determine who is worthy of death
– wherever they’re used
– is, to me, the most chilling example of the serious dangers of the current centralized AI industry ecosystem,
and of the very material risks of believing the bombastic claims of intelligence and accuracy that are used to market these inaccurate systems.
And to justify carnage under the banner of computational sophistication.
As UN Secretary General Antonio Gutiérrez put it,
“machines that have the power and the discretion to take human lives are politically unacceptable,
are morally repugnant,
and should be banned by international law.”
It’s because of this that I join the
German Forum of Computer Scientists for Peace and Social Responsibility
in demanding that
“practices of targeted killing with supporting systems be outlawed as war crimes.”
Particularly given the very real possibility of a more authoritarian government in the US, where these companies are homed.
A place where the right wing in the country has already broadcast plans to
bring the two major tech regulators in the US
–the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission
–under direct presidential control in the future.
Where four of the top five social media platforms are housed, alongside cloud giants that currently control 70% of the global cloud market.
And where a federal abortion ban is on the right wing agenda,
accompanied by ongoing campaigns of book banning and censorship of LGBTQ resources and expression
already shaping legislation at the state level.
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