1.
Weaponized Artificial Intelligence -
3 Critical Dual-Use Applications
by Daniel Faggella
CEO, Emerj Artificial Intelligence Research

2.
Overview
● Bio in brief
● Introduction
● Application 1: Computer Vision
● Application 2: Natural Language Processing
● Application 3: Programmatically Generated Content
● Concluding thoughts
New Shape Forum 2019 Emerj

3.
We help large organizations (the World Bank,
global pharma giants, etc) make critical strategic
decisions about AI strategy and AI impact.
● AI market sizing, growth-rate analysis
● Competitive intelligence and strategy
● Vendor selection and AI adoption
Presenting our AI Research at
United Nations HQ, NYC

4.
Military Applications of AI
● Updating legacy physical systems (tanks, planes,
missile systems) will take many years
● Autonomous weapons remain a concern (the
powerful will build them, others will decry them)
● Much of the novel AI innovation in weaponry and
defense will begin in the private sector
New Shape Forum 2019 Emerj

5.
Application 1:
Computer Vision
emerj.com @danfaggella

6.
Computer Vision Capabilities
● 1. Retail / Other: Behavior Detection
● 2. Finance: Satellite Imagery / Quantamental
Investing
New Shape Forum 2019 Emerj

7.
Computer Vision - Dual-Use
● 1. Retail / Other: Behavior Detection
○ Quantifying the movement of enemy troops or
leaders
○ Homeland surveillance
● 2. Finance: Satellite Imagery / Quantamental
Investing
○ Predicting movement of enemy vessels
○ Predicting enemy munition/fuel levels
New Shape Forum 2019 Emerj

8.
Application 2:
Natural Language Processing
emerj.com @danfaggella

9.
Computer Vision Capabilities
● 1. Any: Translation, Summarization
● 2. Marketing: Extraction
New Shape Forum 2019 Emerj

10.
Computer Vision - Dual-Use
● 1. Any: Translation, Summarization
○ ..
○ ..
● 2. Marketing: Extraction
○ ..
○ ..
New Shape Forum 2019 Emerj

11.
Application 3:
Programmatically Generated Content
emerj.com @danfaggella

12.
Deepfake of Barack Obama
[near-unlimited data to train on, massive budget]

13.
Deepfake of Bettina Tucci Bartsiotas
[1 min of video footage to train on, miniature budget]

14.
NVIDIA

15.
NVIDIA

16.
@goodfellow_ian

17.
AI and PGC: Companies
Goal:
● Unassailable relative power
Means:
● Encourage increasingly more use (time) and
behavior (purchase)
● Be seen as benevolent, or ambient
Strategy:
● Discourage use and behavior on outside platforms
● Own the digital ecosystem with more and more
features to eat away at competitors’ share
New Shape Forum 2019 Emerj

18.
AI and PGC: Companies - Precedents
● Facebook buys Oculus to own more eyeballs in
virtual space
● Amazon and Google fight over the home assistant
market
● Google fought with Facebook in the social space
(Google+)
● Facebook and Google are both attempting to
compete with Amazon in eCommerce
● (I’m sure similar dynamics exist in China)
New Shape Forum 2019 Emerj

19.
AI and PGC: Countries
Goal:
● Unassailable relative power
Means:
● Strong economy/military, compliant society
Strategy:
● Create conflict in the ecosystem of other countries
(weaken societies and economies
● Encourage society to support the goals of the ruling
party (most effective in governments where leaders
cannot be voted out)
New Shape Forum 2019 Emerj

20.
AI and PGC: Countries - Precedents
● Countries forming their own independent internet,
deterring dissidents and inculcating society
○ Governments taking control of VR/AR for the
same reason
● Countries resisting the digital ecosystems (social
media) and hardware (5G, etc) of other countries,
warry to grand control of their virtual ecosystems
● Interfering with politics and societies of democratic
nations with open governments
● Governments using their private virtual ecosystem
players as extensions of the party’s will
New Shape Forum 2019 Emerj

21.
We are Going In

22.
We are Going In
INTERPOL World 2019 Emerj

23.
Hypothesis
In the remaining part of the 21st century:
All competition between the world’s most powerful
nations or organizations (whether economic, political, or
military) is about gaining control over the computational
substrate that houses human experience and AI.
New Shape Forum 2019 Emerj

24.
Concluding Thoughts
How should democratic nations...
● Ethically leverage the new capabilities of AI?
● Set up international norms and governance?
● Handle the malicious and abusive use of AI by
autocratic states?
New Shape Forum 2019 Emerj

25.
That’s all, folks
research@emerj.com
emerj.com @danfaggella