drone

Working on DOD AI Project Left Some Google Employees “Livid”

More than 3100 Google employees have written a letter to their CEO Sundar Pichai demanding that the company immediately cancel its contract with the U.S. military on a drone program known as Project Maven.

There’s a motto at Google: “Don’t be evil.”
Today, more than 3,000 Google employees fear their company is on the verge of breaching that code by helping the U.S. military improve its spy drone software.
“We believe that Google should not be in the business of war,” the letter states. “Therefore we ask that Project Maven be cancelled, and that Google draft, publicize and enforce a clear policy stating that neither Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology.” [The 22 Weirdest Military Weapons]
Project Maven, which Google signed onto last month, fits into the DOD’s larger goal of improving America’s ability to “[win] wars with computer algorithms and artificial intelligence,” DOD officials said in a statement. Google agreed to help with this mission by developing artificial intelligence software capable of rapidly scanning thousands of hours of surveillance drone footage and automatically detecting “38 classes of objects” that military analysts regularly look for.
Despite a Google spokesperson’s assurance that their new tech would be “for non-offensive uses only,” many Google employees were instantly wary of the partnership, Gizmodo reported. In the new complaint letter, which is currently circulating within Google, employees voiced their concerns about the tech’s potential applications in warfare.
“The technology is being built for the military,” the letter says, “and once it’s delivered it could easily be used to assist in [lethal] tasks.”

Part of the letter also sought assurances from the DOD that Project Maven would not be used for offensive purposes. There are no signs from Google, however, that they intend on canceling their contract.

To read the entire article from Live Science, click here:

Photo courtesy DOD

Serbs Arrest Two Americans for Filming Military Buildings with Drone

The Serbian Ministry of Defense has reportedly arrested two Americans from Florida for filming military facilities in Belgrade using a drone, Serbian television is reporting. Two women from Ukraine traveling with the men were released after being questioned.

The news follows several other security-related issues in Serbia involving foreigners. An American was reportedly arrested earlier this month in possession of a firearm, and “pro-government media alleged that he was a former Navy SEAL and had planned the assassination of unidentified Serbian officials,” per the AP.
The Ministry of Defense said the two Americans and two Ukrainians were detained on Sunday trying to film buildings that once housed the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Yugoslavia, until they were destroyed by NATO bombing in 1999. The Serbian Defense Minister said, “It is not a coincidence that such a large number of foreign citizens tried to bust into premises controlled by the Army of Serbia.”
The arrests come as Russia and the West are vying for influence in Serbia, the largest of the states to emerge from the collapse of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Orthodox Christian and Slavic, Serbia has close historical ties with Moscow, but President Aleksandar Vucic has made joining the European Union a priority.

Serbian broadcaster Pink reported Tuesday that the two Americans still being held by police are from Florida and claim they are working for a non-governmental organization.
The two Ukrainian women with the Americans have been released, with local media
reporting
they are from Luhansk, a city in the east of Ukraine, which is occupied by Russia.
There is still some confusion
of
the number of arrests, with Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin claiming that members of Military Police on Sunday and Monday detained a total of eight foreign nationals in connection with the incident.

Serbian security in the northern city of Novi Sad reported that a British and an Afghan national were detained after entering an unused military facility. Also, a couple with Spanish passports were also detained in the nearby holiday resort of Fruska Gora after attempting to walk into an army depot, another report said.

Why the Americans were there and why they were interested in a bombed out military building is bound to generate some questions. Not the least of which is why were two Ukrainian women with them.

There were some reports that the Serbian military has denied, that the site was radioactive, and workers feared working there in the cleanup.

To read the entire article from Axios, click here:

Cell Phone Sized Drone With Big Capability Being Used by US Military

The military is making increasing uses of drones and robotics and the latest from AeroVironment is taking the small scale to the next level. The company’s “Snipe Nano Quad is tiny, about the size of a cell phone and weighs less than half of a pound. But it makes up for it with what it can accomplish for operators in the field.

Weighing in at about 5 ounces, the four-rotor aircraft is equipped with an electro-optical/infrared system that allows it to take photos or live-streaming video both day or night. And its quiet electric motors make it difficult to detect, even when surrounding noise levels are low.
That can be invaluable in close-range military operations where U.S. troops don’t know what’s around the next corner — or at the top of the next hill.
In a video AV posted on YouTube, Snipe Program Manager Jon Ross explains it this way:
“An example for Snipe could be a squad who’s given a mission to do reconnaissance on a structure on the top of a hill,” Ross said. “Apparently, it was abandoned but reports indicate that it could be used by insurgents. So a squad is supposed to go up there and clear that facility. The problem is it’s at the top of a hill and there’s no way to approach it without possibly being seen if someone were inside. Snipe could give that squad a 360-degree view of the target from the rooftop, through any open windows or indoors to give them confidence as they approach.”
The Snipe can fly at speeds exceeding 20 mph and the tiny craft is capable of operating under challenging environmental conditions including winds of more than 15 mph with gusts of up to 20 mph. It has a range of about 3,280 feet and its rechargeable batteries can keep it aloft for 15 minutes at a time although the battery can easily be changed out for extended use

The company is not only manufacturing its product for military use but they’ll extend their product for commercial use as well by first responders, law enforcement agencies, search-and-rescue teams.

To read the entire article from the Pasadena Star News click here:

Photo courtesy AeroVironment Inc.