OpenAI’s “12 days of shipmas” tell us a lot about the AI arms race

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Every week, I talk to one of the MIT Technology Reviewjournalists go behind the scenes of the stories they are covering. This week, I reached out to our features and investigations editor Amanda Silverman to tell us about our big story about how the war in Ukraine is reshaping the tech industry in Eastern Europe.

pad: Amanda, we published Peter Guest’s story this week This is how civilian technology is being repurposed for Ukraine’s war. I could be wrong, but ultimately I think this shows how warfare has really been transformed by cheap, easy-to-make technology. is that so?

Amanda: I think this is very true. Perhaps a more accurate term would be tech products that are cheaper and easier to make. It’s all relative, right? For example, the retrofitted consumer drones that have been so popular in Ukraine over the past few years are much cheaper than traditional weapons systems, and what we’re seeing now are a number of other technologies originally developed for civilian purposes, such as a scooter that Pitt reports is being Sent to the front lines. Moreover, these weapons are much cheaper than traditional weapons. And they can be developed and shipped very quickly.

Another thing Pete discovered was that the technology was being rapidly redesigned in response to battlefield feedback — like that scooter being customized to carry NATO-standard sized bullet boxes. I can’t imagine this happening with the old way of doing things.

pad: It’s moving fast and (hopefully not) damaging things, but for the sake of war… There’s another, scarier thought, which is that the war is changing, and perhaps has already changed, the tech industry in Eastern Europe. What did Pete find going on there?

Amanda: So it’s understandable that many of Ukraine’s neighbors are quite shocked by what’s happening there and how the country is having to urgently respond to a full-scale Russian invasion. At the same time, Pete found that many people in these countries, especially in Latvia, and especially leading tech startups, were inspired by the way Ukrainians mobilized for war and were trying to stay ahead of potential enemies and prepare for conflicts within their borders. Be prepared. To be clear, it’s not all dire. It’s somewhat exciting to see all of this innovation happening so quickly and removing some of the tedious red tape.

pad: Well, as you said, Russia’s neighbors are understandably frightened. Is there anything about this story that scares you?

Amanda: Yes, it’s impossible to ignore that there’s also a huge and terrible risk here: As these companies develop new technologies for war, they have an unprecedented opportunity to test them in Ukraine without going through traditional development and procurement processes— — This can be slow and laborious, of course, but also includes many important tests, checks and balances, and more to protect against fraud and many other abuses and dangers. For example, Pitt acknowledged how Clearview AI deployed its technology to identify Russian war dead, which is itself horrific and may be a violation of the Geneva Conventions.