Microsoft has modified its politics To ban U.S. police departments from using generative AI through the Azure OpenAI Service, the corporate's fully managed, enterprise-focused wrapper for OpenAI technologies.
On Wednesday, latest language was added to the Azure OpenAI Service terms of service that prohibits using integrations with Azure OpenAI Service “by or for” police departments within the United States, including integrations with OpenAI's text and speech analytics models.
A separate latest bullet point covers “any law enforcement agency worldwide” and specifically prohibits using “real-time facial recognition technology” on mobile cameras similar to body cameras and dash cams to try and discover an individual in “uncontrolled-wild” environments.
The changes to the terms come every week after Axon, a maker of technology and weapons products for the military and law enforcement, announced a New product which uses OpenAI's GPT-4 generative text model to summarize audio from body cameras. Critics were quick to indicate the potential pitfalls, similar to hallucinations (even one of the best generative AI models now make up facts) and racial bias emerging from the training data (which is especially concerning considering that these are people of color). such). They are way more prone to be stopped by the police than their white colleagues).
It is unclear whether Axon used GPT-4 through the Azure OpenAI Service and, in that case, whether the updated policy was in response to Axon's product launch. OpenAI had previously restricted using its models for facial recognition via its APIs. We've contacted Axon, Microsoft and OpenAI and can update this post if we hear back.
The latest conditions give Microsoft leeway.
The complete ban on using the Azure OpenAI service only affects US police, not international law enforcement. And it doesn't cover facial recognition performed with cameras in environments like a back office (although the terms prohibit any use of facial recognition by US police).
This aligns with Microsoft and its close partner OpenAI's recent approach to AI-related law enforcement and defense contracts.
In January, Bloomberg reported revealed that OpenAI is working with the Pentagon on a spread of projects, including cybersecurity capabilities – a departure from the startup's previous ban on providing its AI to the military. Elsewhere, Microsoft has promoted using OpenAI's DALL-E image generation tool to assist the Department of Defense (DoD) develop software to conduct military operations. Per The interception.
The Azure OpenAI service became available in Microsoft's Azure Government product in February, providing additional compliance and management capabilities for presidency agencies, including law enforcement. In one blog entryCandice Ling, SVP of Microsoft's government-focused division Microsoft Federal, promised that the Azure OpenAI service could be “submitted for extra approval” to the Department of Defense for workloads in support of defense missions.
Microsoft and OpenAI didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.
