grantmaking.ai Launch Round
Context
AI is rapidly becoming a tool for state coercion as governments are using AI-enabled technology to identify perceived threats, parse intelligence, classify populations, and engage in surveillance, targeting and the use of force.
At the same time, the emergence of a new AI-driven military industrial complex, particularly in the United States, has accelerated the speed of such force projection globally, while concentrating influence within a closed network of government agencies, universities, defense contractors/startups, and venture capital firms. Today for instance, the U.S. Department of Defense / War accounts for nearly 99% of all federal AI spending.
This is an existential risk that has been acknowledged by many sections of the AI community (see here and here).
Activities
Over six months, I plan to:
- Research and curate a reading list, a syllabus, and materials (slides, case studies, etc.) for an advanced course focused on military AI oversight
- Launch at least one online pilot course (~4 to 8 weeks long) aimed at professionals interested in, or already involved in, military AI oversight work anywhere in the world.
Tentative curriculum themes include (subject to some revision):
- AI applications in war fighting, intelligence and national security operations: A deep dive into AI as a battlefield technology, including its use in intelligence, targeting, autonomous weapons systems, decision-making and operations.
- Military AI procurement practices and the concentration of power: How a cabal of venture capital firms, defense tech startups, defense primes and “neo-primes,” frontier AI labs, universities, and government agencies are reshaping the military AI ecosystem. This module also examines how narratives of national-security urgency, and public-private financing have turned military AI procurement into an opaque pipeline that accelerates adoption while weakening accountability.
- Non-U.S. applications and global diffusion of military AI: Adaptation and use of these technologies in and non-U.S. contexts and war zones globally.
- Governance and Accountability in military AI: Impact of military AI on civilians, human rights implications, emerging regulatory frameworks, the limits and opportunities for oversight, and research methods to further investigate such systems.About me:
I have worked as an investigative journalist and researcher for several media outlets and thinktanks including the NYTimes, Time, BBC, HDNet, Small Arms Survey, the Center for American Progress and others. I have led both an intelligence division and a human rights division in the United Nations and served as a UN Secretary General-appointed member of the UN Panel of Experts investigating sanctions evasion, war crimes, and kleptocratic regimes. I’ve advised Wall Street firms on sanctions and financial crime, working closely with OFAC, other U.S. agencies, and regulators worldwide. I teach Bluedot’s Frontier AI Governance course, and have previously taught courses in digital investigations and other topics. I have also raised and managed grants ranging from 6- to 8-figures.
Note to readers: If this is a topic you care about, I'd love to hear what you’d like me to cover. What questions about military AI do you think deserve more scrutiny? Share your ideas in the comments!
Monthly stipend: $8,000
Monthly Internet usage and LLM-assisted research: ~$280
Course website (one time): ~$250
Total: $49,930
With the current acceleration of AI applications to war, this course is essential to move beyond brainstorming military applications and, instead, thinking about control and proper use.