Startup Working on Contentious Pentagon AI Project Was Hacked

Last summer, a sign appeared on the door to a stuffy, windowless room at the office of Manhattan artificial-intelligence startup Clarifai. "Chamber of secrets," it read, according to three people who saw it. The notice was a joking reference to how the small team working inside was not permitted to discuss its work with others at Clarifai. Former and current employees say the group was working on a controversial Pentagon project using machine-learning algorithms to interpret drone-surveillance imagery--and that Clarifai's secrets were less safe than they should have been. A lawsuit filed by former employee Amy Liu this month alleges that Clarifai's computer systems were compromised by one or more people in Russia, potentially exposing technology used by the US military to an adversary.