China has unveiled a new artificial intelligence tool called ChatBIT, developed for military purposes. However, the interesting part is that this tool is based on the publicly available Llama 13B language model of US-based Meta. The ChatBIT model is capable of gathering and analyzing intelligence during military operations. But will the US allow it?

China will use ChatBIT, an artificial intelligence tool developed with Meta’s Llama model, for military purposes

First of all, the ChatBIT model is designed to provide reliable information for strategic decision-making and is specifically optimized for dialogue and question-and-answer-oriented tasks. The purpose of these efforts is, of course, China’s attempt to achieve technological superiority in the military domain.

However, this development contradicts Meta’s Acceptable Use Policy. Meta strictly prohibits the use of its models for military, war or espionage. Molly Montgomery, Meta’s director of public policy, said the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s use of the model was unauthorized and against the company’s use policies.

Meta has emphasized the ethical limits of artificial intelligence technology, taking a clear stance to prevent such military applications. In an attempt to downplay the significance of the situation, another spokesperson for the company said that China has already made huge investments to overtake the US in AI, and that an outdated language model would not make a big difference to China’s strategic superiority.

China’s new AI tool is likely to reignite ethical debates on the uses of AI in the international arena. ChatBIT is seen as just one part of China’s military AI investments; the country is known to be investing trillions of dollars to overtake the US in the technological field.

It remains to be seen how these developments, which violate Meta’s acceptable use policies, will play out and how other countries will evaluate such technologies with similar applications. In the coming period, it may be necessary to clarify the limits on how artificial intelligence technology will be used in the military.