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Adafruit acted a bit shady here. Their original post includes: "Military weird things" Reading the ToS, the two mentions of military are "don't use our AI pro

Adafruit acted a bit shady here. Their original post includes: "Military weird things" Reading the ToS, the two mentions of military are "don't use our AI product for military use" and in the export and trade controls section. How are either of those weird?

rockskon 11mo ago
Given the ambiguity of the phrase "military use" when the military does, in-fact, use it for things the military does - I am not confident in the slightest with Arduino's use of language here.
- deleted 11mo ago
  [deleted]
- healsdata 11mo ago
  How would you want to see this further clarified? > Military Use: Use by or for any military organization or for any military purpose, including but not limited to projects sponsored or paid for by military organizations, or use by the U.S. Department of Defense (except for DARPA), U.S. Armed Forces, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. intelligence agencies, or any foreign counterparts of the foregoing.
  - rockskon 11mo ago
    Gee, I dunno, how about by not limiting its scope exclusively to AI usage by the military? Also - given how many tech companies involved in AI have done an about-face on military usage of it, I'm increasingly seeing it as an empty promise.
- shevy-java 10mo ago
  Indeed. Also because any big organisation or corporation can both do evil and good. Often research projects with guarantees to release knowledge or some other improvements such as to software projects under a permissive licence.
snvzz 11mo ago
Free Software's Freedom #0: Freedom of use.
monegator 11mo ago
>Adafruit acted a bit shady here what is new here?
- ptorrone 10mo ago
  i wrote the article, just go ahead and call me shady and leave out other people at the company. limor will be back online next week after recovering (just had a kid) and you can call her shady too.
  - shevy-java 10mo ago
    But you did not sign the article? I don't understand this. IMO it would have just been easier to simply sign it. (With signing I mean mentioning who specifically wrote a blog entry; and also ideally the time as well.)
    - relaxing 10mo ago
      ? All the adafruit blog posts have author and date listed.
    - ptorrone 10mo ago
      i am here now, phillip torrone, and i am holding my 7 day old doing speech to text :) on linkedin, i think it just says "adafruit" i will learn more and see if i can go in and add it post-post.. how is that shady for ya.
      - altaccount2026 10mo ago
        [dead]
  - kotaKat 10mo ago
    nah, rest of the company gets the shady label too, always has, always will. remember when y'all both started blocking people on twitter for calling out data breaches? hrm, lmao.
altaccount2026 10mo ago
[dead]
ptorrone 10mo ago
the carve out is weird and usually open-source does not say, no to the navy using it BUT, it's OK for DARPA ... > Military Use: Use by or for any military organization or for any military purpose, including but not limited to projects sponsored or paid for by military organizations, or use by the U.S. Department of Defense (except for DARPA), U.S. Armed Forces, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. intelligence agencies, or any foreign counterparts of the foregoing.

rockskon 11mo ago

Given the ambiguity of the phrase "military use" when the military does, in-fact, use it for things the military does - I am not confident in the slightest with Arduino's use of language here.

deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
healsdata 11mo ago
How would you want to see this further clarified? > Military Use: Use by or for any military organization or for any military purpose, including but not limited to projects sponsored or paid for by military organizations, or use by the U.S. Department of Defense (except for DARPA), U.S. Armed Forces, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. intelligence agencies, or any foreign counterparts of the foregoing.
- rockskon 11mo ago
  Gee, I dunno, how about by not limiting its scope exclusively to AI usage by the military? Also - given how many tech companies involved in AI have done an about-face on military usage of it, I'm increasingly seeing it as an empty promise.
shevy-java 10mo ago
Indeed. Also because any big organisation or corporation can both do evil and good. Often research projects with guarantees to release knowledge or some other improvements such as to software projects under a permissive licence.

snvzz 11mo ago

Free Software's Freedom #0: Freedom of use.

monegator 11mo ago

>Adafruit acted a bit shady here what is new here?

ptorrone 10mo ago
i wrote the article, just go ahead and call me shady and leave out other people at the company. limor will be back online next week after recovering (just had a kid) and you can call her shady too.
- shevy-java 10mo ago
  But you did not sign the article? I don't understand this. IMO it would have just been easier to simply sign it. (With signing I mean mentioning who specifically wrote a blog entry; and also ideally the time as well.)
  - relaxing 10mo ago
    ? All the adafruit blog posts have author and date listed.
  - ptorrone 10mo ago
    i am here now, phillip torrone, and i am holding my 7 day old doing speech to text :) on linkedin, i think it just says "adafruit" i will learn more and see if i can go in and add it post-post.. how is that shady for ya.
    - altaccount2026 10mo ago
      [dead]
- kotaKat 10mo ago
  nah, rest of the company gets the shady label too, always has, always will. remember when y'all both started blocking people on twitter for calling out data breaches? hrm, lmao.

altaccount2026 10mo ago

[dead]

ptorrone 10mo ago

the carve out is weird and usually open-source does not say, no to the navy using it BUT, it's OK for DARPA ... > Military Use: Use by or for any military organization or for any military purpose, including but not limited to projects sponsored or paid for by military organizations, or use by the U.S. Department of Defense (except for DARPA), U.S. Armed Forces, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. intelligence agencies, or any foreign counterparts of the foregoing.