ASYMMETRIC DIALOGUE

Orbital ATK unveiled two new vehicles in early March that would help extend the life of satellites at the 2018 Satellite conference held in Washington D.C. The aerospace manufacturing company touted their rendezvous vehicles as the latest step in the ongoing revolution within the field of on-orbit servicing technology. As industry leaders at the conference boasted technological advancements, policy experts gathered on the other side of the convention center to discuss their role in this new rapidly developing market. Commercial satellite operators are particularly interested in this field of technology because it may allow them to keep one satellite on orbit longer than expected. It would also allow operators to shuffle their fleet and provide more flexible services, which could benefit the Department of Defense. Dawkins said five American companies have received licenses for on-orbit servicing. Under current law, operators need approval from multiple gov...

The Pentagon wants to enlist AI to protect AI

That artificial intelligence has tremendous implications for our future hasn’t allowed too many House of Representative members to inconvenience themselves with it in the present, if the Dec. 11 turnout at the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities is any indication. Ranking member James Langevin, D-RI, put forth the idea that “data is the new oil,” and thus began a weird discussion over all the ways in which data is important to national security, but unlike oil. Department of Defense Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy testified before a House subcommittee that one future use of AI might be detecting hostile intrusions on secure networks. (Brian Murphy/DIA) Speaking before the subcommittee were Lisa Porter, deputy undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, and Dana Deasy, chief information officer for the Department of Defense. Central to the conversation over what, exactly, the Pentagon is doing with artificial intelli...

U.K. Lawmakers Warn Against Tech Giants Dominating AI Industry

Say no new ministry needed, call for overarching ethical guide Immigration, education reforms needed to keep U.K. AI hotspot An influential body of U.K. lawmakers said regulators should stop major tech companies from dominating the field of artificial intelligence, and also warned on the potential of widespread unemployment due the technology. British antitrust regulators should be mindful that large datasets on which artificial intelligence depends on are not monopolized by a handful of large technology companies, such as Alphabet Inc. , International Business Machines Corp. and Microsoft Corp. , the House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence said in a report published Monday. "Large companies which have control over vast quantities of data must be prevented from becoming overly powerful within this landscape," the report, which followed a nine-month inquiry into all aspects of AI development in the U.K., said. The comm...