The top US military officer on Saturday said that it was problematic that US tech companies do not want to work with the Pentagon, but are willing to engage with the Chinese.
US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford told the Halifax International Security Forum that the US and its allies are the “good guys.”
“I have a hard time with companies that are working very hard to engage in the market inside China ... then don’t want to work with the US military,” the general said. “I just have a simple expression: ‘We are the good guys.’”
Photo: AP / Darren Calabrese / The Canadian Press
Earlier this year, thousands signed a petition asking Google chief executive to cancel Project Maven, which provides the Pentagon with the company’s artificially intelligent algorithms to interpret video images and improve the targeting of drone strikes.
Google later said it would scuttle the project, according to published reports.
Dunford avoided mentioning Google by name, but said companies that share intellectual property with Chinese entrepreneurs are essentially sharing it with the Chinese military.
Google is reportedly worked on a mobile version of its search engine that will comply with strict censorship controls in China.
“This is not about doing something that’s unethical, illegal or immoral,” Dunford said.
“This is about ensuring that we collectively can defend the values for which we stand. That would be the argument I make to the tech companies,” he said.
Dunford said the US has had a competitive advantage since World War II because of public and private cooperation and noted that whoever masters artificial intelligence will have an edge in combat.
The Halifax International Security Forum attracts US military officials, senators, diplomats and scholars and is marking its tenth anniversary this year.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
RSS