Chinese researchers repurpose Meta's Llama model for military intelligence
applications

Date:
Sat, 21 Dec 2024 06:02:10 +0000

Description:
The recent development of ChatBIT has raised significant security concerns.

FULL STORY

Metas Llama AI model is open source and freely available for use, but the
companys licensing terms clearly state the model is intended solely for
non-military applications. 

However there have been concerns about how open source tech can be checked to
ensure that it is not used for the wrong purposes and the latest speculations
validate these concerns, as recent reports claim Chinese researchers with
links to the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) have created a military-focused AI
model called ChatBIT using Llama.

The emergence of ChatBIT highlights the potential and challenges of open
source technology in a world where access to advanced AI is increasingly
viewed as a national security issue.

A Chinese AI model for military intelligence

A recent study by six Chinese researchers from three institutions, including
two connected to the People's Liberation Army's Academy of Military Science
(AMS), describes the development of ChatBIT, created using an early version 
of Metas Llama model. 

By integrating their parameters into the Llama 2 13B large language model, 
the researchers aimed to produce a military-focused AI tool. Subsequent
follow-up academic papers outline how ChatBIT has been adapted to process
military-specific dialogues and aid operational decisions, aiming to perform
at around 90% of GPT-4s capacity. However, it remains unclear how these
performance metrics were calculated, as no detailed testing procedures or
field applications have been disclosed. 

Analysts familiar with Chinese AI and military research have reportedly
reviewed these documents and supported the claims about ChatBITs development
and functionality. They assert that ChatBITs reported performance metrics
align with experimental AI applications but note that the lack of clear
benchmarking methods or accessible datasets makes it challenging to confirm
the claims. 

Furthermore, an investigation by Reuters provides another layer of support,
citing sources and analysts who have reviewed materials linking 
PLA-affiliated researchers to ChatBITs development. The investigation states
that these documents and interviews reveal attempts by Chinas military to
repurpose Metas open-source model for intelligence and strategy tasks, making
it the first publicized instance of a national military adapting Llamas
language model for defense purposes. 

The use of open-source AI for military purposes has reignited the debate on
the potential security risks associated with publicly available technology.
Meta, like other tech companies, has licensed Llama with clear restrictions
against its use in military applications. However, as with many open-source
projects, enforcing such restrictions is practically impossible. Once the
source code is available, it can be modified and repurposed, allowing foreign
governments to adapt the technology to their specific needs. The case of
ChatBIT is a stark example of this challenge, as Metas intentions are being
bypassed by those with differing priorities. 

This has led to renewed calls within the US for stricter export controls and
further limitations on Chinese access to open-source and open-standard
technologies like RISC-V. These moves aim to prevent American technologies
from supporting potentially adversarial military advancements. Lawmakers are
also exploring ways to limit U.S. investments in Chinas AI, semiconductor, 
and quantum computing sectors to curb the flow of expertise and resources 
that could fuel the growth of Chinas tech industry. 

Despite the concerns surrounding ChatBIT, some experts question its
effectiveness given the relatively limited data used in its development. The
model is reportedly trained on 100,000 military dialogue records, which is
comparatively small against the vast datasets used to train state-of-the-art
language models in the West. Analysts suggest that this may restrict ChatBITs
ability to handle complex military tasks, especially when other large 
language models are trained on trillions of data points. 

Meta also responded to these reports claiming Llama 2 13B LLM used for
ChatBITs development is now an outdated version, with Meta already working on
Llama 4. The company also distanced itself from the PLA saying any misuse of
Llama is unauthorized. Molly Montgomery, Meta's director of public policy,
said, "Any use of our models by the People's Liberation Army is unauthorized
and contrary to our acceptable use policy." 

Via Tom's Hardware

======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/chinese-researchers-repurpose-metas-llama-model-
for-military-intelligence-applications

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