At first glance, it seems like Silicon Valley executives have the perfect life, what with the unimaginable wealth and power and such. But what if they’re sad they don’t get to put on big boy ...

At first glance, it seems like Silicon Valley executives have the perfect life, what with the unimaginable wealth and power and such. But what if they’re sad they don’t get to put on big boy pants and pretend they’re warfighters? What then, America?

Thankfully the Army has invented a way to give tech execs participation trophies—surely that is the best and most noble use of our armed forces.

A new Army initiative titled “Detachment 201: The Army’s Executive Innovation Corps” promises to “fuse cutting-edge tech expertise with military innovation.”

Just in case this conflict of interest wasn’t blatant enough, Katrina Mulligan, former chief of staff to the Army secretary, posted more big news on LinkedIn Monday, announcing that, since being rewarded its $200 million contract, OpenAI is now bringing her on to run a new initiative, “OpenAI for Government,” which will supposedly “help accelerate the U.S. government’s adoption of AI.”

Notably absent from the list of Big Special Boys with Big Special Army Jobs is Musk and any of his companies. In the halcyon days of the Trump-Musk alliance, he was getting literal billions in government contracts, awarded with no oversight and no regard for the obvious conflict of interest.

SpaceX was on track to help build the Golden Dome missile shield, a Trump fixation and boondoggle that will not work but will nonetheless cost somewhere between $119 billion and $6.4 trillion. But now there’s nary a mention of SpaceX while Golden Dome missile shield partner Palantir’s star is rapidly ascending.

  • UnpopularCrow@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    “…instead they will do it by making some tech execs part-time lieutenant colonels in the Army Reserve while retaining their current full-time jobs. Welcome your newest recruits: Andrew Bosworth, CTO of Meta; Shyam Sankar, CTO Palantir; Kevin Weil, CPO of OpenAI; and Bob McGrew, OpenAI’s former research chief and current advisor to Thinking Machines Lab.”

    I certainly wouldn’t want these four with me in a foxhole.

    • Basic Glitch@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      Rest assured the only combat these men will see is via drone surveillance feeds from behind a desk.

      I can’t help but worry though, that in addition to all the concerns about surveillance and privacy, Foundry/the megadatabase being created on all Americans could be used in some pretty horrific ways against individuals that speak out against our new leaders, or individuals that vaguely resemble somebody that spoke out against our elite technologists.

      How Israel Uses AI in Gaza—And What It Might Mean for the Future of Warfare

      A program known as “The Gospel” generates suggestions for buildings and structures militants may be operating in. “Lavender” is programmed to identify suspected members of Hamas and other armed groups for assassination, from commanders all the way down to foot soldiers. “Where’s Daddy?” reportedly follows their movements by tracking their phones in order to target them—often to their homes, where their presence is regarded as confirmation of their identity. The air strike that follows might kill everyone in the target’s family, if not everyone in the apartment building.

      Abraham, whose report relies on conversations with six Israeli intelligence officers with first-hand experience in Gaza operations after Oct. 7, quoted targeting officers as saying they found themselves deferring to the Lavender program, despite knowing that it produces incorrect targeting suggestions in roughly 10% of cases.

    • AbidanYre@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      If we’re going to Iran anyway, the least we can do is send these assholes in first.