Posted on September 12, 2017 at 1:26 PM
CIA Planning to Use AI to Track Social Media Posts
The Company plans to use its army of 137 AI programs to track social media posts of US citizens. The Central Intelligence Agency plans to use AI programs to access and retrieve social media information from US citizens. The Deputy Director for Technology Development, Dawn Meyerriecks, revealed to Futurism that the CIA has developed some 137 AI programs in partnership with Silicon Valley Firms as part of the Company’s ‘In-Q-Tel’ project.
Spying on the internet activity of US citizens is a not new. Everyone knows that government agencies like CIA and NSA monitor and store almost everything US citizens do on the internet. Edward Snowden dropped the ball on NSA’s Prism program in 2014, but there is no indication of these practices slowing down at all with CIA’s AI program. While these organizations, in the past, have said that they do so in order to maintain the security of the country and stamp down any sort of terrorist activity before it can be even fully planned. However, there is no news regarding the agenda behind this AI monitoring of social media posts. There’s no hint as to whose posts will be monitored, and what kind of information will be recorded.
The one thing that is for certain is that the CIA will be able to gather a lot more data in a lot less time. With the ability of so many AI programs, they can track everything users share and do on social media platforms. A huge chunk of public info comes from social media posts and activity, and this project will only increase that information.
With AI technology, the CIA could put this information to many uses. For example, some of the programs out of the 137 AI programs in this project can predict future events. This is based on data analysis, forming and associating patterns, and correlational events. It all looks like something out of a Marvel or similar Sci-Fi action movies, only this time, this is for real. But there’s no telling to what extent such organizations will use this power, and therein lies the problem.
With the amount of information gathering and analysis involved in actively monitoring internet activity and satellite information, a lot of human personnel are required. If you replace that with AI, the number is quite small. Moreover, with AI machine learning technology, the efficiency could improve by over 75%.
Dawn Meyerriecks said that the US wants to develop AI technology and be a frontrunner in the field. They want to have the capability to know what sort of threats they are going to face. He cited the example of Kim-Jong Un firing a nuclear missile on the USA, an example that isn’t as preposterous as it should be. In addition to that, he said that every country is investing heavily in AI, since it is the technology of the future, and would differentiate the powerful from the weak in coming times.
Other high-profile individuals like Elon Musk have voiced their opinions regarding AI in the past as well. Even they believe that AI is the future technology and something that could make things a lot better for everyone all around the world. While it’s certainly true that this is the case, any piece of technology with this power can easily be a weapon of hysteria and destruction. AI technology is quite useful, but it depends on the person using it.
Worth reading Life 3.0 by @Tegmark. AI will be the best or worst thing ever for humanity, so let’s get it right.https://t.co/lT0uMH3ujZ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 29, 2017
The CIA using AI programs to skim and scan through social media posts of all individuals is certainly wrong. It will give them a data bank where they will have everything you’ve ever done on social media. Also, with prediction programs, there’s no telling the kinds of risk you face for simply sharing your views and opinions on any matter.
