The Pentagon is Working on its Own ChatGPT

The Pentagon’s IT Division is developing an AI-powered chatbot like ChatGPT, according to a Pentagon official. The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is developing a technology that can take data from multiple sources, plug it into a database, and run a large language model on top of it.

The chatbot, however, is not designed to help defense personnel in mission-critical scenarios but to help assist captains with post-mission reports.

The Pentagon’s IT Division is in the process of developing a prototype that could be launched internally this year, according to reports. However, Steve Wallace, the agency’s chief technology officer and head of emerging technologies, did acknowledge that most commercially available large language models like GPT-4, which powers ChatGPT, run on the cloud.

For the model to be useful for the Pentagon, it needs to run on edge and in places where connectivity to the internet would not be great.

Interestingly, OpenAI, the company that developed ChatGPT is partnering with the Pentagon to explore ways to make its technology useful to prevent veteran suicides. 

It is among the many other initiatives that OpenAI and the U.S. Department of Defence are exploring to make large language models beneficial for the defense forces, according to Anna Makanju, OpenAI VP of Global Affairs, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Last year, OpenAI also announced its participation in the AI Cyber Challenge, a two-year competition led by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the Pentagon. The challenge brings together tech experts to develop advanced cybersecurity tools.