Google Backtracks, Says Its AI Will Not Be Used for Weapons or Surveillance

"“While Google’s statement rejects building AI systems for information gathering and surveillance that violates internationally accepted norms, we are concerned about this qualification,” said Peter Asaro, a professor at The New School and one of the authors of an open letter that calls on Google to cancel its Maven contract. “The international norms surrounding espionage, cyberoperations, mass information surveillance, and even drone surveillance are all contested and debated in the international sphere. Even Project Maven, being tied to drone surveillance and potentially to targeted killing operations, raises many issues that should have caused Google to reject it, depending on how one interprets this qualification.”"