Grok is in, ethics are out in Pentagon’s new AI-acceleration strategy

The Pentagon’s third AI-acceleration strategy in four years sets up seven “pace-setting projects” that will “unlock critical foundational enablers” for other U.S. military efforts, the department announced Monday. 

The six-page document also directs the department’s many components to fulfil a four-year goal to make their data centrally available for AI training and analysis. It omits any mention of ethical use of AI and casts suspicion on the concept of AI responsibility while banning the use of models that incorporate DEI-related “ideological ‘tuning.’”

Also on Monday, Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Pentagon networks, including classified ones, would enable access to Grok, the Elon Musk-owned, Saudi- and Qatari-backed AI chatbot noted for its partisan, even Nazi, slant and its willingness to create sexually explicit images of children. 

In some key respects, the new strategy bears much in common with its 2023 Biden-administration predecessor, which also emphasized the rapid ...