Microsoft gifts first-of-its-kind AI model to US intelligence agencies

A new report from Bloomberg reveals Microsoft has created a new generative AI model that is designed specifically for US intelligence agencies.

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The report states the main difference between this new AI model and others that power popular AI tools, such as ChatGPT, is that it's completely divorced from the internet, making it the first of its kind. Known AI models such as ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Microsoft's Copilot rely on cloud services to process prompts, train data, and reach conclusions. However, the AI model now handed over to US intelligence agencies doesn't require any cloud services, meaning it is completely devoid of any internet access and, therefore, secure.

Why do US intelligence agencies want an advanced AI model? According to the report, due to the security of the AI model, top-secret information can now be inputted and analyzed, which will help intelligence agencies understand and filter through large swaths of classified information.

This isn't the first time US intelligence agencies have pushed for a generative AI model to be used on intelligence data, as Sheetal Patel, assistant director of the CIA for the Transnational and Technology Mission Center, said to delegates at a security conference last month, "There is a race to get generative AI onto intelligence data," and the first country to get AI onto its intelligence data will win. "And I want it to be us."

"This is the first time we've ever had an isolated version - when isolated means it's not connected to the internet - and it's on a special network that's only accessible by the US government," said William Chappell, Microsoft's chief technology officer for strategic missions and technology

Chappell has said the service is now live and undergoing testing by the intelligence community.

"It is now deployed, it's live, it's answering questions, it will write code as an example of the type of thing it'll do," said Chappell