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. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
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