Emerging Technology
From Defense To Depression In CEOs, AI Is Reshaping The World But Not All Are Happy
By TechDogs Bureau

Updated on Mon, Jan 20, 2025
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This has been especially true when considering the wonderful capabilities of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), which has brought natural language conversations to the pursuit of instantly finding answers.
One of the most prominent sectors reaping the benefits of this amazing technology is the defense industry.
In the last few months, AI leaders such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and others have partnered with defense agencies in the United States or other companies involved with such agencies.
Pushing hard on open-source AI, Meta announced last November that it was partnering with numerous companies to bring its Llama to government agencies. This includes partnering with Accenture Federal Services, Amazon Web Services, Anduril, Booz Allen, Databricks, Deloitte, IBM, Leidos, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Oracle, Palantir, Scale AI, and Snowflake.
Similar deals were revealed between OpenAI and Anduril, Anthropic and Palantir, Cohere and Palantir, and more.
Overall, AI technology has improved how the US military operates, providing the Department of Defense with a “significant advantage”.
Especially in its “kill chain” process, which is the process of identifying, monitoring, tracking, and eliminating threats, which combines the use of sensors, platforms, and weapons.
“We obviously are increasing the ways in which we can speed up the execution of kill chain so that our commanders can respond in the right time to protect our forces,” said Dr. Radha Plumb, Pentagon’s Chief Digital and AI Officer.
“Playing through different scenarios is something that generative AI can be helpful with.”
At the back end of 2024, the US Department of Defense also revealed new AI-enabled cameras to improve airspace monitoring in Washington. The Enhanced Regional Situational Awareness (ERSA) system camera is part of a new visual recognition and identification system deployed across the National Capital Region (NCR).
At the same time, the agency clarified that AI was not being used as weapons and that the Pentagon has no intention of enabling fully autonomous weapons that leave humans out of the loop.
“We’ve been really clear on what we will and won’t use their technologies for,” said Plumb, adding, “As a matter of both reliability and ethics, we’ll always have humans involved in the decision to employ force, and that includes for our weapon systems.”
However, not every country may see AI in the same light, with some opting to use it sparingly, while others might be in for the full monty, leaving everyone in disagreement with how AI should be used.
On the other hand, one area where everyone will agree AI can be helpful is healthcare.
From stories of AI being able to correctly diagnose patients before doctors can, to AI predicting future ailments well before they’re evident to top medical professionals, AI has changed how the medical industry functions.
Recently, researchers from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and the University of Kentucky reported a new way to measure depression among C-suite executives, particularly CEOs.
This was done by training AI language models to analyze the vocal patterns of CEOs, based on data sourced from over 14,500 earnings calls of S&P 500 companies (2010-2021). Using the model, it was determined that more than 9,500 were classified as having depression.
One of the primary reasons for depression among CEOs was the additional workplace challenges faced by them. As such, mental health struggles were linked with the company facing greater risks, such as litigation or volatile stock returns. Here, larger compensation packages based on performance also played a role.
“We want to really highlight mental health in leadership roles and how prevalent it is,” said Nargess Golshan, assistant professor of accounting at Indiana University and the study’s co-author. “Of course, it is important for the personal health of these executives, but also has far-reaching implications for the organization, the employees, the investors, and the broader economy.”
While such uses of AI technology can have beneficial effects all around, not everyone is pleased with it.
Sacramento in California played host to a first-of-its-kind conference that had over 200 trade union members and technologists gathering to discuss how AI and other tech threaten workers. This meeting also included strategizing for upcoming strikes and a fightback.
The main concern? AI will take their jobs. As such, the workers want more control over how AI is deployed within companies.
Organized by University of California labor centers, unions, and worker advocates, the Making Tech Work for Workers conference witnessed participation from people representing dock workers, home care workers, teachers, nurses, actors, state office workers, etc.
Another problem addressed was excessive surveillance, where workers felt physically and mentally drained by technology that tracked their every movement.
One particular company caught in this storm was Amazon, for which its spokesperson Steve Kelly responded by saying, “Employees are encouraged to work with intention, not speed and can take short breaks at any time to use the restroom, grab water, stretch, or step away from their screen.”
Kelly continued, “In addition, there’s nothing unusual about using cameras to help ensure employee safety, inventory quality, or protect against theft—this is common practice at nearly every major retailer in the world.”
What are your thoughts on the possibility of AI replacing humans in the workforce?
Also, do you think the use of AI in defense operations should be encouraged, or should such processes be left entirely to human judgment?
Let us know in the comments below!
First published on Mon, Jan 20, 2025
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