Microsoft Strategic Missions and Technology CTO William Chappell announced that it’s deployed a GPT-4 large language model in an isolated, air-gapped environment on a government-only network. Bloomberg first reported the setup, citing an unnamed executive who claimed that the Azure Government Top Secret cloud-hosted model represents the first time a “major” LLM has operated separated from the internet.
Microsoft’s ‘air gapped’ AI is a bot set up to process top-secret info
NSA and CIA documents probably shouldn’t go into ChatGPT, but this server is made to operate on an isolated government network.
NSA and CIA documents probably shouldn’t go into ChatGPT, but this server is made to operate on an isolated government network.
Image: The Verge
is a senior editor following news across tech, culture, policy, and entertainment. He joined The Verge in 2021 after several years covering news at Engadget.
Chappell announced the AI supercomputer on Tuesday afternoon at the “first-ever AI Expo for National Competitiveness” in Washington D.C. Unlike the models behind ChatGPT or other tools, Microsoft says this server is “static,” operating without learning from the files it processes or the wider internet.
Chappell told Bloomberg, “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.” As Chappell mentioned to DefenseScoop, it has not been accredited for top-secret use, so the Pentagon and other government departments aren’t actually using it yet, whether that’s processing data for a particular mission or something like HR.
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