Insider Q&A: CIA's chief technologist's cautious embrace of generative AI
Knowledge advantage can save lives, win wars and avert disaster. At the Central Intelligence Agency, basic artificial intelligence – machine learning and algorithms – has long served that mission. Now, generative AI is joining the effort.
CIA Director William Burns says AI tech will augment humans, not replace them. The agency’s first chief technology officer, Nand Mulchandani, is marshaling the tools. There’s considerable urgency: Adversaries are already spreading AI-generated deepfakes aimed at undermining U.S. interests.
A former Silicon Valley CEO who helmed successful startups, Mulchandani was named to the job in 2022 after a stint at the Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.
Among projects he oversees: A ChatGPT-like generative AI application that draws on open-source data (meaning unclassified, public or commercially available). Thousands of analysts across the 18-agency U.S. intelligence community use it. Other CIA projects that use large-language models are, unsurprisingly, secret.
Related articles
Six killed in a 'foiled coup' in Congo, the army says
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Six people were killed and dozens arrested following attacks on the residence2024-05-21Dear Caroline: My dad has dementia and no longer recognises me or my mother
Q My dad has dementia and before he went into a care home I was his primary carer. It is tragic to w2024-05-21Google IS quietly recording your voice... here is how to switch the feature off
There is a hidden feature in users' Google accounts that lets the tech giant quietly record their vo2024-05-21Kentucky prosecutor accused of trading favors for meth and sex pleads guilty to federal charge
LONDON, Ky. (AP) — A former prosecutor in eastern Kentucky accused of doing favors for criminal defe2024-05-21US overdose deaths dropped in 2023, the first time since 2018
NEW YORK (AP) — The number of U.S. fatal overdoses fell last year, according to Centers for Disease2024-05-21US appeals court says Pennsylvania town's limits on political lawn signs are unconstitutional
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A federal appeals court panel has found that a small Pennsylvania town’s ordi2024-05-21
atest comment