by
Anna
Moneymaker/Getty
Images)
Earlier
this
week,
the
Defense
Department
announced
its
new
generative
AI
tool
—
GenAi.mil
—
to
deliver
the
benefits
of
artificial
intelligence
to
the
Armed
Forces.
The
fact
that
the
move
injects
government
funds
into
a
financial
bubble
holding
the
entire
stock
market
afloat
while
hemorrhaging
cash
with
scant
revenue
to
show
for
it
is
just
a
happy
coincidence.
“The
future
of
American
warfare
is
here,
and
it’s
spelled
AI,”
Defense
Secretary Pete
Hegseth proclaimed
in
a
testament
to
the
nation’s
declining
spelling
skills.
Because
nothing
says
“lethal
fighting
force”
like
field
officers
asking
ChatGPT
whether
to
take
that
hill…
and
please
answer
in
the
style
of
George
Patton!
But
maybe
GenAi.mil
deserves
more
credit,
because
apparently
it
just
nailed
a
legal
question
that
stumped
everyone
in
the
actual
chain
of
command.
Because
approximately
five
minutes
after
the
platform
went
live,
someone
asked
it
to
evaluate
a
“hypothetical”
Caribbean
boat
strike.
From
the
r/AirForce
subreddit:
The
same
technology
that
regularly
hallucinates
fake
case
citations
when
asked
basic
legal
questions
successfully
managed
to
figure
out
the
Geneva
Conventions.
And
it
didn’t
even
need
the
additional
detail
that
the
actual
humans
involved
allegedly
watched
two
men
waving
from
the
wreckage
before
deciding
to
fire
anyway.
That
said,
the
laws
of
armed
conflict
are
—
by
design
—
more
straightforward
than
most.
We
expect,
as
a
civilization,
the
lowest
ranked
combatant
to
be
able
to
successfully
figure
out
how
NOT
to
commit
a
war
crime
and
we
drafted
the
rules
accordingly.
So
it’s
not
really
surprising
that
G.I.
Gemini
here
figured
out
the
right
answer.
Almost
as
unsurprising
as
knowing
the
humans
in
charge
over
there
couldn’t.
Frankly,
the
only
surprising
aspect
to
this
is
that
the
military
built
something
to
provide
answers
without
producing
a
confusing
morass
of
PowerPoint
decks.
Nonetheless,
it’s
another
technological
coup
for
the
same
Defense
Secretary
who
blasted
war
plans
to
his
bros
—
and
an
unsuspecting
journalist!
—
over
Signal.
Hegseth
apparently
refused
to
cooperate
in
the
resulting
investigation
and
then
lied
about
its
outcome.
Presumably,
Hegseth
will
pursue
an
investigation
into
whoever
posted
this
on
Reddit
with
all
the
vigor
he
doesn’t
put
into
doing
his
actual
job.
The
military’s
new
AI
says
‘hypothetical’
boat
strike
scenario
‘unambiguously
illegal’
[Straight
Arrow
News]
Pentagon
rolls
out
GenAI
platform
to
all
personnel,
using
Google’s
Gemini
[Breaking
Defense]
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
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