The former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, now executive chairman of its parent company Alphabet, is about to start helping the military improve what it does by borrowing concepts and ideas straight from Silicon Valley.
Schmidt will chair the new 12-person Defense Innovation Advisory Board, which is being brought in to help the organization use tools like “rapid prototyping, iterative product development, complex data analysis… mobile and cloud applications.”
“The board will not engage in discussion of military operations or strategy,” the Department of Defense statement said.
The remaining board members will be chosen by Schmidt, along with the Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, and will be drawn from both the public and private sector.
Yes, the head of one of the world’s most powerful companies, which has a probably unparalleled, intimate knowledge of all of our lives, is about to start advising the military on how to improve its business practice. The business of killing people, that is.
If I was them, I’d get right on with building exploding smartphones.
Apart from the worrying realization that the military doesn’t quite grasp what the cloud is yet, this is potentially the most frightening thing I’ve ever heard.
Google owns human-like robots, artificial intelligence that’s nearly as smart as humans and it definitely knows where you’re going to hide.
➤ Statement by Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook on the Establishment of the Defense Innovation Advisory Board [Department of Defense]
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