“Error is as important as malevolence,” Richard Danzig told me in an interview. “I probably wouldn’t use the word ‘stupidity,’ (because) the people who make these mistakes are frequently quite smart, (but) it’s so complex and the technologies are so opaque that there’s a limit to our understanding.”

In science fiction and real life alike, there are plenty of horror stories where humans trust artificial intelligence too much. They range from letting the fictional SkyNet control our nuclear weapons to letting Patriots shoot down friendly planes or letting Tesla Autopilot crash into a truck. At the same time, though, there’s also a danger… Keep reading →

CORRECTED: NPOI Remains In Use For SSA GEOINT: Think about technology to identify suicide bombers and high value targets who’ve been blown to bits without using DNA. The Intelligence Community’s version of DARPA, IARPA, is doing just that with a program designed to use proteins from hair and keratin (which makes up much of the… Keep reading →

WEST PALM BEACH,  Fla.: Army experts are “extremely excited” by the idea of hybrid electric aircraft, one of the service’s top Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) experts revealed Tuesday. “My team has believed that was the case for some time,” Lars Ericsson, chief of the technical management division in the Army UAS office, said on a panel… Keep reading →

GEOINT: The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) will be joining the Defense Department in Silicon Valley this summer, director Robert Cardillo says. The new office will be called “NGA Outpost Valley,” a more euphonious name than the Pentagon’s unwieldy DiuX. “It’s a beachhead that will have the authority to reach out to all innovation centers,”… Keep reading →