Cementing Silicon Valley Partnerships: A National Security Imperative.

• Author: Ivey, Matthew
• Position: Viewpoint

In April, thousands of Google employees called for their company to discontinue support to Project Maven, a Department of Defense artificial intelligence initiative, stating that "Google should not be in the business of war."

Following suit, tech workers from Microsoft, IBM and Amazon urged Google to break its contract with the department and for other companies to refuse to work with it. On June 1, the company informed employees that it would not renew its contract with the Pentagon.

For several years now, tech luminaries such as Elon Musk and others have called for an outright ban on the development of AI-enabled "killer robots."

But in order to remain a global military leader and preserve U.S. national security, the department must make substantial investments in AI technology and leverage the expertise of Silicon Valley. Indeed, during a trip to the region last year, Secretary of Defense James Mattis insisted that AI has "got to be better integrated by the" Defense Department.

Obviously, Silicon Valley and the Pentagon are out of sync. Meanwhile, China and Russia are setting the conditions within their respective industrial bases to become world leaders in AI. In July 2017, the Chinese State Council released a comprehensive strategy entitled, New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan," directing a whole-of-government approach and strongly encouraging large technology companies like Alibaba and Baidu to invest heavily in the technology with the goal of becoming the world leader in AI by 2030.

Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work has called China's issuance of this strategy a "Sputnik moment." Russia has taken similar steps to increase its AI capabilities. Last September, Russian President Vladimir Putin remarked: "Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world. Artificial intelligence is the future not only of Russia but of all of mankind. There are huge opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to foresee today."

With China and Russia poised to become AI leaders, the current dissonance between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon is a real problem that cannot be dismissed as mere cultural differences or emblematic of a greater civilian-military divide.

The U.S. government has a clear need for reliance on Silicon Valley and it cannot expect notions of patriotism or national security to inspire tech companies into service. It is further unrealistic to expect that the Pentagon will...