SEAN DURNS
U.S. corporations have been essential to defeating America’s enemies.
During World War II, big business made the United States the "arsenal of democracy." It helped to defeat genocidal fascism. Innovation, spurred by cooperative efforts between government and business, was equally important to winning the Cold War.
Unfortunately, today, many U.S. tech giants are unwilling to help their country counter totalitarian China. Worse still, others are aiding the Chinese Communist Party.
On Sept. 2, the U.S. Air Force’s software chief, Nicolas Chaillan, resigned in protest at the current situation. In an Oct. 10 interview, Chaillan told the Financial Times that he quit over the slow pace of the technological transformation of the U.S. military.
"We have no competing fighting chance against China in 15 to 20 years," he warned . "Right now, it’s already a done deal; it is already over in my opinion." Beijing, he told the Financial Times, is well on its way to global dominance in sectors that will be key to the future: artificial intelligence, cybercapabilities, and machine learning.
By contrast, the cyberdefenses of several U.S. government agencies were at a "kindergarten level," Chaillan said. He lamented the Pentagon bureaucracy, lack of funding, and incapable leaders being put in charge of critical units. But Chaillan cited another reason for the U.S. falling behind: Big Tech companies.
Google, he said, was reluctant to work with the Pentagon on artificial intelligence. That's a problem.
As Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin observed in July 2021, "Tech advances like AI are changing the face and pace of warfare." China, Austin told the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, seeks to be "globally dominant in AI by the year 2030." Such an occurrence would have potentially horrific consequences for the future. Much of the blame can be laid at Big Tech’s door.
In 2017, the U.S. Defense Department, acknowledging that it needs "to do much more and move much faster" in order to "integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning," launched Project Maven. The Pentagon hoped to find ways to use AI to update its capabilities. It sought, for example, to use AI to analyze data captured by U.S. drones.
But the Pentagon’s request for help from the private sector prompted a revolt by Google workers.
Thousands of Google employees wrote an open letter to chief executive Sundar Pichai saying that "Google should not be in the business of war." They called for Project Maven to be canceled and that "Google draft, publicize and enforce a clear policy stating that neither Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology."
In June 2018, Google leaked to U.S. press outlets that it would not extend the 18-month contract to help the Pentagon with Project Maven. The Washington Post claimed that the move came after Google faced "employee resignations for helping develop technological tools that could aid in warfighting."
Google executives have since decried the impression that they’re not interested in U.S. national security ventures. In 2020, the company announced a limited contract with the Pentagon to counter cyberthreats.
Yet, Google’s morality is skewed.
The company has developed a major AI center in China and launched ventures that military leaders warn will "help an authoritarian government exert control [over] its own population." In 2019, then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said Google was "indirectly benefiting the Chinese military."
Chinese companies are beholden to the Chinese Communist Party. The backing of the Chinese state seems to have given Beijing a decisive advantage in an area where the U.S. can’t afford to lose.
The reluctance of Google and other Big Tech companies to help the national defense is a significant historical departure. Big business played an important role in achieving U.S. victories in both world wars and the Cold War that followed.
Big Tech’s lack of patriotism has hurt the national interest. Should the Chinese Communist Party win the wars of the future, some of the largest U.S. corporations may very well be to blame.
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