Meta deploys AI model Llama for US military use in bold national security push

Meta has made its artificial intelligence model, Llama, available to the US military and defense contractors for national security purposes. According to Meta’s global affairs president, Nick Clegg, in a statement on Nov. 4, Llama’s capabilities will support complex logistics, monitor terrorist financing, and bolster America’s cyber defenses.

As CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned on last week’s earnings call, governments and contractors can now use the Llama code for defense and security activities. Meta will collaborate with Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, and Oracle, as well as defense partners like Palmer Luckey’s Anduril, Lockheed Martin, and Palantir, to offer full-scale services to the U.S. government. Corporate leaders like Accenture, Booz Allen, and Deloitte are also involved.

Meta champions open-source AI in defense to strengthen U.S. security

Meta hopes the move will bolster US security and help set American standards for open-source AI. It believes that huge language models may “streamline” planning and logistics, monitor terrorist risks, and strengthen digital defense. Zuckerberg argued that open-source has been critical to US defense for decades.

Meta emphasizes the importance of the US and its allies continuing to champion open-source technologies to maintain its “technological edge” over China and other competitors.

“Open source systems have been critical to helping the United States build the most technologically advanced military in the world and, in partnership with its allies.”

~Meta

According to Clegg, this initiative also promises substantial benefits for the US private sector since national security is closely tied to economic productivity. He noted that other countries, including China, recognize this and rapidly develop their open-source models to compete with the U.S. 

Bloomberg has also reported that Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK are getting open access to Llama.

Chinese institutions exploited Llama for military use

A few days ago, Reuters reported that Chinese research institutions associated with the People’s Liberation Army had used an early version of Llama to develop AI military applications for intelligence purposes, citing an obtained report. A Meta executive clarified that any such use by the People’s Liberation Army is “unauthorized” and violates Meta’s usage policies.

With this new multi-company agreement, Oracle will use Llama to synthesize aircraft maintenance documents, allowing personnel to detect faults more efficiently and reducing repair time to return the aircraft to service.

Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure will host Llama on their cloud solutions to protect sensitive data.