[P] Pro-Ukraine ML Project to Confirm and Disseminate Field Intel Faster

Submitted by OttersAreDevilSpawn t3_yxxhav in MachineLearning

Engineers for Ukraine is an international team of volunteers working on a machine learning tool to identify Russian equipment in real time (with minimal human involvement) to increase the speed at which accurate information about Russian soldiers/equipment in any location passes from local civilians on the ground to the Ukrainian warfighter.

Engineers for Ukraine has four teams:

  1. The Data Team, which builds the training datasets for the machine learning models. This is the easiest team to join since the tasks are straightforward and the training is short/easy.
  2. The Machine Learning Team, which builds and trains machine learning models. This team needs a bit more experience and/or time to get through readings to get up to speed. If you are familiar with PyTorch, TensorFlow, AWS, AWS SageMaker, AWS S3, AWS Rekognition, AWS Comprehend, Lambda, machine learning attacks, machine learning security, dedicated red team work, and/or data science, please join the machine learning team.
  3. The Development Team, which handles much of the project infrastructure and builds the relevant web pages, services, and user interfaces. If you are familiar with AWS, Lambda, JavaScript, React.js, Node.js, API's, plug-ins, and/or devops/SRE/cloud engineering, please join the dev team.
  4. The Cybersecurity Team, which works heavily with the Development Team searching for and fixing vulnerabilities, but also creates threat models, does red team vs blue team work, penetration testing, and occasionally OSINT work. If you are interested in learning cool cybersecurity skills from a team of professionals who are just super busy and need more hands on deck to knock out tasks OR if you are also skilled in cybersecurity, please join the cybersecurity team.

I’ve talked about Engineers for Ukraine before in this Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/vlsaka/volunteers_needed_for_proukraine_project/

If you are interested in either of these groups, please reach out to breaker25789@gmail.com with the project (AidSupply or Engineers for Ukraine) and team you are interested in.

We will reach out and schedule a video call in which you can verify that we aren’t Russian bots and we can verify that you are not a Russian bot by both showing a government-issued photo ID and two social media accounts. As part of the recruitment process, each volunteer may be asked to complete an introductory assignment specific to the project/team they are applying to. This isn’t meant as a barrier, just as a way to get people onboarded faster while giving the project leadership a sense of each volunteer’s skill level.

We've been vetted by r/Ukraine mod u/TheRoppongiCandyman and shown him our project docs. If another mod needs to see them, let me know and I'll share them. We were pinned on this morning sticky before: https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/vlk01g/448_eest_the_sun_is_rising_on_the_124rd_day_of/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

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ThisIsMyStonerAcount t1_iwr6tbk wrote

I've said this once, but I'll happily say it again for anyone who thinks of participating: Fuck Putin with a dildo full of wooden splinters, but be aware that by joining this project you'll be working on warfare technology. And that whatever you'll develop now to help against Russia's invasion might later be used in other military conflicts, about which you might feel much more ethically ambiguous. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

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po-handz t1_iwrernl wrote

Thank you. So many bleeding hearts in my AI Ethics grad class yet a huge chunk of them go on to work at Raytheon, Lockheed, this shit project

Then they get back on social media a d complain about the military industrial complex or how much budget goes to defense. It's embarrassing

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phsycicwit t1_iwtoqme wrote

Why wouldnt you expect adversarial countries to be very interested in this product, given that it works well? I doubt the project could fend off cyber attacks and/or infiltration from interested parties. Better not build it in a civilian context..

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[deleted] t1_iwsy53y wrote

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ThisIsMyStonerAcount t1_iwtkluq wrote

The things they're looking to do can easily be used in offensive ways as well. Plus, we know from the Manhattan project that in hindsight many of the participants wished they hadn't done what they've done. Not that I think that this project is similarly large in scope, but the basic context of "don't work on warfare tech, even if it currently seems important" stands. I'm sure there are people disagreeing, otherwise no one would work in that sector or join the military. But I think there's a lot of people who are looking for ways to help Ukraine w/o realizing that work like this might have consequences beyond the current conflict. If you're building a weapon that your military uses to fight the enemy, then that has less possibilities for misuse (provided you trust your military) than if you develop a software to track humans in satellite images in real time and put it out there in the world for good and bad actors to use, alike.

(Also, "Your argument is childish, but I won't elaborate and you're a stoner" is middle school argument, too, hereComeThatGurl420)

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Dmytro_North t1_iwtsr42 wrote

I hear you. But let me ask you this. What would you do if your country was attacked? If your family and friends were killed? Would you stand aside? What I am asking is where is the line? Are there values you are willing stand behind? Any power can be used for good, bad, or something in between. And unfortunately weak military attracts aggressors. At the moment lives and freedoms of my people are spared thanks to power, technology, and resources of the western world, including most Ukraine’s neighbouring countries. And again, almost anything can be used for bad intentions. That means there is work for you to do in your own country to keep your government/military in check. The choice is yours.

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ThisIsMyStonerAcount t1_iwtw1mv wrote

I totally understand your position. My hat is off to anyone who chooses to fight for Ukraine. I'd expect the Ukrainian military and nato allies to work on projects just like this, because it makes sense to have such a system. People who want to work on these projects full time should in fact just join the military to avoid duplicate work (and to get closer to the actual customers of your work).

I'm just saying that the work being done here is easier to abuse (and could potentially turn out to develop into a net negative long after this war is over) than work done by someone who eg. drives a tank. There are ethical considerations that might not be obvious at first sight.

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