Top Chinese research institutions linked to the People\u2019s Liberation Army have used Meta\u2019s publicly available Llama model to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) tool for potential military applications, according to academic papers and analysts. In a June paper reviewed by Reuters, six Chinese researchers from three institutions, including two under the People\u2019s Liberation Army\u2019s (PLA) leading research body, the Academy of Military Science (AMS), detailed how they had used an early version of Meta\u2019s Llama as a base for what it calls \u201cChatBIT\u201d. The researchers used an earlier Llama 2 13B large language model (LLM) that Meta META.O, incorporating their own parameters to construct a military-focused AI tool to gather and process intelligence, and offer accurate and reliable information for operational decision-making. ChatBIT was fine-tuned and \u201coptimised for dialogue and question-answering tasks in the military field\u201d, the paper said. It was found to outperform some other AI models that were roughly 90 per cent as capable as OpenAI\u2019s powerful ChatGPT-4. The researchers didn\u2019t elaborate on how they defined performance or specify whether the AI model had been put into service. \u201cIt\u2019s the first time there has been substantial evidence that PLA military experts in China have been systematically researching and trying to leverage the power of open-source LLMs, especially those of Meta, for military purposes,\u201d said Sunny Cheung, associate fellow at the Jamestown Foundation who specialises in China\u2019s emerging and dual use technologies including AI. Meta has embraced the open release of many of its AI models, including Llama. It imposes restrictions on their use, including a requirement that services with more than 700 million users seek a license from the company. Its terms also prohibit use of the models for \u201cmilitary, warfare, nuclear industries or applications, espionage\u201d and other activities subject to US defence export controls, as well as for the development of weapons and content intended to \u201cincite and promote violence\u201d. However, because Meta\u2019s models are public, the company has limited ways of enforcing those provisions. In response to Reuters questions, Meta cited its acceptable use policy and said it took measures to prevent misuse. \u201cAny use of our models by the People\u2019s Liberation Army is unauthorised and contrary to our acceptable use policy,\u201d Molly Montgomery, Meta\u2019s director of public policy, told Reuters in a phone interview. Meta added that the United States must embrace open innovation. \u201cIn the global competition on AI, the alleged role of a single, and outdated, version of an American open-source model is irrelevant when we know China is already investing more than a trillion dollars to surpass the US on AI,\u201d a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. The Chinese researchers include Geng Guotong and Li Weiwei with the AMS\u2019s Military Science Information Research Center and the National Innovation Institute of Defense Technology, as well as researchers from the Beijing Institute of Technology and Minzu University. \u201cIn the future, through technological refinement, ChatBIT will not only be applied to intelligence analysis, but also \u2026 strategic planning, simulation training and command decision-making will be explored,\u201d the paper said. China\u2019s Defence Ministry didn\u2019t reply to a request for comment, nor did any of the institutions or researchers. Reuters could not confirm ChatBIT\u2019s capabilities and computing power, though the researchers noted that its model incorporated only 100,000 military dialogue records, a relatively small number compared with other LLMs. \u201cThat\u2019s a drop in the ocean compared to most of these models (that) are trained with trillions of tokens so \u2026 it really makes me question what do they actually achieve here in terms of different capabilities,\u201d said Joelle Pineau, a vice president of AI Research at Meta and a professor of computer science at McGill University in Canada. The research comes amid a heated debate in US national security and technology circles about whether firms such as Meta should make their models publicly available. US President Joe Biden in October 2023 signed an executive order seeking to manage AI developments, noting that although there can be substantial benefits to innovation,\u201c there were also \u201csubstantial security risks, such as the removal of safeguards within the model\u201d. This week, Washington said it was finalising rules to curb US investment in artificial intelligence and other technology sectors in China that could threaten national security. Pentagon spokesman John Supple said the Department of Defense recognised that open-source models had both benefits and drawbacks, and that \u201cwe will continue to closely monitor and assess competitors\u2019 capabilities\u201d. \u2018Cookie Jar\u2019 Some observers say China\u2019s strides in developing indigenous AI, including setting up scores of research labs, have already made it difficult to keep the country from narrowing the technology gap with the United States. In a separate academic paper reviewed by Reuters, two researchers with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) \u2014 which the United States has designated a firm with ties to the PLA \u2014 described using Llama 2 for \u201cthe training of airborne electronic warfare interference strategies\u201d. China\u2019s use of Western-developed AI has also extended into domestic security. A June paper described how Llama had been used for \u201cintelligence policing\u201d to process large amounts of data and enhance police decision-making. The state-run PLA Daily published commentary in April on how AI could help \u201caccelerate the research and development of weapons and equipment\u201d, help develop combat simulation and improve military training efficiency\u201c. \u201cCan you keep them (China) out of the cookie jar? No, I don\u2019t see how you can,\u201d William Hannas, lead analyst at Georgetown University\u2019s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), told Reuters. A 2023 paper by CSET found 370 Chinese institutions whose researchers had published papers related to General Artificial Intelligence – helping drive China\u2019s national strategy to lead the world in AI by 2030. \u201cThere is too much collaboration going on between China\u2019s best scientists and the US\u2019 best AI scientists for them to be excluded from developments,\u201d Hannas added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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