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Pentagon says overreliance on AI contributed to missile strike on Iran school

974 points · 553 comments · devonnull

63 · 1790106616 · focus · HN ↗
It's easy to blame the military and the higher-ups, after all they made this choice. But more relevant to HN, this couldn't have happened without technology professionals working for Palantir.
> A Palantir spokesperson told Bloomberg the company “is not responsible for the underlying data nor identifying intelligence deficiencies” and that there is no evidence its software was at fault.
If you work for Palantir, you are writing software that kills people. Software that, in this case, killed 123 children. What salary is worth that?
I encourage others who work in the public sector, whether directly or through a contractor, to read and internalize Don't Get Distracted by Caleb Hearth [0]. I think about it nearly every day.
[0] <a href="https://calebhearth.com/dont-get-distracted" rel="nofollow">https://calebhearth.com/dont-get-distracted
1. augment_me · 1790107628 · focus · HN ↗
  The govt is investing in the military whether you like it or not, there is a set amount of GDP going into the sector regardless of your moral choice.
  Would you rather not have someone make good software that does not misidentify schools at sites? Or should we outsource this to worse engineers who don't care about morals and don't find this metric meaningful?
  1. jackb4040 · 1790180279 · focus · HN ↗
    The government is sending people to death camps whether you like it or not; there is a set number of non-Jews being sent there regardless of your moral choice.
    Would you rather have someone make good software that does not misidentify non-Jews as Jews and send them to the death camps? Or should we outsource this to worse engineers who don't care about morals and don't find this distinction meaningful?

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