LLMs are a key enabling technology to extract real insights from the enormous amount of surveillance data the USA captures. I think it's not an understatement to say we are entering a new era here!
Previously, the data may have been collected, but there was so much that effectively, on average no one was "looking" at it. Now it can all be looked at.
As someone whose has been part of a company that has "signed" one of these large deals before, let me tell you that it doesn't mean the DoD is giving these companies $200M. If one of the companies is wildly successful, sure. But none of it is guaranteed money and the initial budget is likely 10-100x smaller than the cap.
> With CDAO and other DOD organizations and commands, we'll engage in:
- Working directly with the DOD to identify where frontier AI can deliver the most impact, then developing working prototypes fine-tuned on DOD data
- Collaborating with defense experts to anticipate and mitigate potential adversarial uses of AI, drawing on our advanced risk forecasting capabilities
- Exchanging technical insights, performance data, and operational feedback to accelerate responsible AI adoption across the defense enterprise
>
What exactly is the government getting for $200M? From the above, it sounds like it will be a management consulting style Powerpoint deliverable containing a list of use cases, some best practices and insights, and a plan for doing...something.
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[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 30.8 ms ] threadPreviously, the data may have been collected, but there was so much that effectively, on average no one was "looking" at it. Now it can all be looked at.
I answer "Did you try turning it off and on again?"
- Working directly with the DOD to identify where frontier AI can deliver the most impact, then developing working prototypes fine-tuned on DOD data
- Collaborating with defense experts to anticipate and mitigate potential adversarial uses of AI, drawing on our advanced risk forecasting capabilities
- Exchanging technical insights, performance data, and operational feedback to accelerate responsible AI adoption across the defense enterprise
>
What exactly is the government getting for $200M? From the above, it sounds like it will be a management consulting style Powerpoint deliverable containing a list of use cases, some best practices and insights, and a plan for doing...something.
> The Department of Defense (DoD) quietly begins contracting OpenBrain directly for cyber, data analysis, and R&D
> Anthropic, Google, OpenAI and xAI granted up to $200 million for AI work from Defense Department
So it is "up to" $200M, and 4 companies are getting it.
I get the first 3, but what on earth is xAI providing to the military?