Leaked emails obtained by The Intercept revealed that Amazon provided "some workloads" on the controversial Project Maven initiative.
Amazon is selling its facial recognition technology to an agency tied to the U.S. law enforcement agency, according to a recent report by the Intercept.
Leaked emails obtained by The Intercept revealed that Amazon provided "some workloads" on the controversial Project Maven initiative launched by the Defense Department last year. Amazon is rapidly expanding from e-commerce business to defense and homeland security services offering a host of machine learning services to the Pentagon and police agencies across the United States. The corporation, which currently manages a major cloud computing solution for U.S. intelligence agencies, is also bidding on a US$10 billion contract to provide similar cloud solutions to the Defense Department, the Intercept reported.
The project is Pentagon's first initiative to integrate Silicon Valley-developed machine learning technology into the military’s capabilities. The initiative applies Artificial Intelligence, AI technology, to help analysts identify images captured by drones on the battlefield by automatically cataloging people, buildings, and events.
Teresa Carlson, vice president of the worldwide public sector of Amazon Web Services, told the Intercept that Amazon is dedicated to providing services to its customers.
In an interview with the New York Times reporter Cecilia Kang, when asked if "Amazon has "drawn any red lines, any standards, guidelines, on what you will and you will not do in terms of defense work."
Carlson said, "We have not drawn any lines there. We are unwaveringly in support of our law enforcement, defense, and intelligence community."
Adding that Amazon often doesn’t "know everything they’re actually utilizing the tool for," but said the U.S. government should have the most "innovative and cutting-edge tools" available so that it isn’t bested by its "adversaries," per the Intercept.
Without giving many details on the legal recourse, she also said Amazon could reclaim its technology if it were used illegally under the "ethical-use right."
In March, Google won a Project Maven contract but tried to conceal the company’s involvement, until it was eventually reported by Gizmodo and The Intercept.
The move was widely rebuked by several Google employees, with thousands signing a letter demanding the company end its ties with the military, and expressed shock that Google appeared to have violated its old mantra, “Don’t be evil,” by working with the military.
"Employees need a voice," acknowledged Carlson, with respect to the recent criticism. "I can’t speak for any other company, but we want to work with our government," she added. "We feel compelled. … We believe government should have the same capability — our warfighters out there in the field, our civil servants — should have those same capabilities."
