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Meta prohibits Department of Defense to use Llama2

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Re: Meta prohibits Department of Defense to use Llama2

#21

Post by lolinder »

This title is editorialized and wrong—there is nothing in this policy that mentions the DoD. I assume the poster misunderstood this line in the prohibited uses:

> Military, warfare, nuclear industries or applications, espionage, use for materials or activities that are subject to the International Traffic Arms Regulations (ITAR) maintained by the United States Department of State

This is the only mention of any US department, and it doesn't ban them, it references a list of banned activities that is maintained by the US State Department. This means two things:

1. The DoD could use LLaMA 2 for any non-prohibited purpose.

2. No other military is allowed to use LLaMA 2 for military purposes.

A better title would be "Meta prohibits use of LLaMA 2 for militaries", but that would be less exciting because it's a pretty common provision in many terms of use.

Re: Meta prohibits Department of Defense to use Llama2

#26

Post by therobot24 »

mattw2121 wrote: post #10

Is there a different link that shows they are prohibiting all use by the Department of Defense? The linked page is their acceptable use policy. From that policy it appears it is fine for the Department of Defense to utilize it, as long as it is not for one of the prohibited reasons.

>> 2. Engage in, promote, incite, facilitate, or assist in the planning or development of activities that present a risk of death or bodily harm to individuals, including use of Llama 2 related to the following:

>> a. Military, warfare, nuclear industries or applications, espionage, use for materials or activities that are subject to the International Traffic Arms Regulations (ITAR) maintained by the United States Department of State

The key piece here (IMO) is: "assist in the planning or development of activities that present a risk of death or bodily harm to individuals". There's plenty of DoD activities that are a few steps away from actual conflict engagement. Is helping an engineer move HESCO barriers too close to "activities that present a risk of death or bodily harm to individuals"? What about helping a team learn how to use a weapon or even any piece of equipment within the DoD? Who decides how many degrees from 'these activities' are ok?

Re: Meta prohibits Department of Defense to use Llama2

#28

Post by londons_explore »

lolinder wrote: post #21

This title is editorialized and wrong—there is nothing in this policy that mentions the DoD. I assume the poster misunderstood this line in the prohibited uses: > Military, warfare, nuclear industries or applications, espionage, use for materials or activities that are subject to the International Traffic Arms Regulations (ITAR) maintained by the United States Department of State This is the only mention of any US de…

> A better title would be "Meta prohibits use of LLaMA 2 for militaries", but that would be less exciting because it's a pretty common provision in many terms of use.

I also don't see the point of such a provision. If an enemy military uses it, good luck taking them to court - if you are at war with a country, they probably won't be paying up any damages.

If your own countries military wants to use it, then the military can force you to hand the tech over if they really don't want to pay for it.

The term is perhaps of use for neutral-country militaries?

Re: Meta prohibits Department of Defense to use Llama2

#29

Post by lolinder »

therobot24 wrote: post #26
mattw2121 wrote: post #10

Is there a different link that shows they are prohibiting all use by the Department of Defense? The linked page is their acceptable use policy. From that policy it appears it is fine for the Department of Defense to utilize it, as long as it is not for one of the prohibited reasons.

>> 2. Engage in, promote, incite, facilitate, or assist in the planning or development of activities that present a risk of death or bodily harm to individuals, including use of Llama 2 related to the following: >> a. Military, warfare, nuclear industries or applications, espionage, use for materials or activities that are subject to the International Traffic Arms Regulations (ITAR) maintained by the United States De…

In practice you're correct, but the title implies—and the original poster elaborated on this in their comment [0]—that the DoD is banned specifically, while other militaries (specifically the CCP according to OP) are authorized. That is inaccurate—if any military is wholly banned then all militaries are.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37174278

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