Google will not allow its artificial intelligence software to be used in weapons or unreasonable surveillance efforts under new standards for its business decisions in the nascent field, the Alphabet Inc unit said on Thursday. The restriction could help Google management defuse months of protest by thousands of employees against the company's work with the U.S. military to identify objects in drone video. Google instead will seek government contracts in areas such as cybersecurity, military recruitment and search and rescue, Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said in a blog post on Thursday. "We want to be clear that while we are not developing AI for use in weapons, we will continue our work with governments and the military in many other areas," he said. Breakthroughs in the cost and performance of advanced computers have carried AI from research labs into industries such as defense and health in the last couple of years.

The U.S. military has been looking to incorporate elements of artificial intelligence and machine learning into its drone program. Project Maven, as the effort is known, aims to provide some relief to military analysts who are part of the war against Islamic State. These analysts currently spend long hours staring at big screens reviewing video feeds from drones as part of the hunt for insurgents in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. The Pentagon is trying to develop algorithms that would sort through the material and alert analysts to important finds, according to Air Force Lieutenant General John N.T. 'Jack' Shanahan, director for defense intelligence for warfighting support. Military bosses say intelligence analysts are'overwhelmed' by the amount of video being recorded over the battlefield by drones with high resolution cameras'A lot of times these things are flying around(and)... there's nothing in the scene that's of interest,' he told Reuters.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google will not allow its artificial intelligence software to be used in weapons or unreasonable surveillance efforts under new standards for its business decisions in the nascent field, the Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) unit said on Thursday. The restriction could help Google management defuse months of protest by thousands of employees against the company's work with the U.S. military to identify objects in drone video. Google instead will seek government contracts in areas such as cybersecurity, military recruitment and search and rescue, Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said in a blog post bit.ly/2M8Pdkq on Thursday. "We want to be clear that while we are not developing AI for use in weapons, we will continue our work with governments and the military in many other areas," he said. Breakthroughs in the cost and performance of advanced computers have carried AI from research labs into industries such as defense and health in the last couple of years.

SAN FRANCISCO – Google will not allow its artificial intelligence software to be used in weapons or unreasonable surveillance efforts, the Alphabet Inc. unit said Thursday in standards for its business decisions in the nascent field. The new restrictions could help Google management defuse months of protest by thousands of employees against the company's work with the U.S. military to identify objects in drone video. Google will pursue other government contracts, including around cybersecurity, military recruitment and search and rescue, Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said in a blog post Thursday. "We want to be clear that while we are not developing AI for use in weapons, we will continue our work with governments and the military in many other areas," he said. Breakthroughs in the cost and performance of advanced computers have begun to carry AI from research labs into industries such as defense and health.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. A company that makes stun guns and body cameras is teaming up with a company that makes drones to sell drones to police departments, and that might not even be the most worrisome part. The line of drones from Axon and DJI is called the Axon Air, and the devices will be linked to Axon's cloud-based database for law enforcement, Evidence.com, And it could open a vast new frontier for police surveillance. By working with a company that is already familiar with contracting with police departments, the Chinese-owned DJI--the world's biggest consumer drone manufacturer--could widen up a new, growing customer base: cops. Axon Air, which was announced Tuesday by Axon, is marketed as a way to help law enforcement with search-and-rescue operations, crowd monitoring, traffic-accident reconstruction, and evidence collection.

The Senate is currently considering a bill that would give the Department of Homeland Security more power to research, surveil, seize and destroy drones flying in the US, Gizmodo reports. Yesterday during a hearing, DHS officials expressed support for the bipartisan legislation, saying current laws prevent the agency from effectively mitigating the potential threats presented by drones. DHS Deputy General Counsel Hayley Chang said yesterday that laws like the Wiretap Act, the Pen Trap Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Aircraft Sabotage Act limit what measures the agency can take when it comes to drones that pose a risk to US security and in its written introduction, DHS said, "Legal uncertainty also impedes the department's ability to research, develop and test [counter-unmanned aircraft system (CUAS)] technologies for eventual CUAS operations by our authorized users. Under current legal constraints, only a very small number of technologies can be employed to detect and track UAS and none can be employed to disable/mitigate UAS in our homeland." As for why it needs more leeway when it comes to drones, DHS pointed to activity taking place in other countries that could threaten US security.

Google will not allow its artificial intelligence software to be used in weapons or'unreasonable surveillance' efforts. Following a major backlash from employees, the Alphabet unit has laid out new rules for its AI software. The new restrictions could help Google management defuse months of protest by thousands of employees against the company's work with the U.S. military to identify objects in drone video. Google will not allow its artificial intelligence software to be used in weapons or'unreasonable surveillance' efforts, Chief Executive Sundar Pichai, pictured, said today. Google will pursue other government contracts including around cybersecurity, military recruitment and search and rescue, Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said in a blog post Thursday.

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Whether delivering cargo to remote areas, mapping terrain or assessing structural damage, drones -- usually associated with the military and sport -- are being used more and more for humanitarian aid. But it turns out that using drones for good isn't so simple. On May 15, experts convened in Cambridge, Massachusetts to develop much-needed guidelines for this emerging application of a powerful technology. The event was run by Swiss-American non-profit WeRobotics, and hosted by swissnex Boston as part of its new event series, Aerial Futures: The Drone Frontier. Participants came from humanitarian organisations like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), universities including Harvard and MIT, tech companies, and local government. But the question on everyone's minds was: How can the powerful robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies used in drones -- also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) -- be harnessed safely and effectively for good?

Earlier this year, Google CEO Sundar Pichai described artificial intelligence as more profound to humanity than fire. Thursday, after protests from thousands of Google employees over a Pentagon project, Pichai offered guidelines for how Google will--and won't--use the technology. One thing Pichai says Google won't do: work on AI for weapons. But the guidelines leave much to the discretion of company executives and allow Google to continue to work for the military. The ground rules are a response to more than 4,500 Googlers signing a letter protesting the company's involvement in a Pentagon project called Maven that uses machine learning to interpret drone surveillance video.