A new survey offers some evidence that most artificial intelligence experts are positive or neutral when it comes to working with the Pentagon on AI-enabled projects.

Why it matters: Employee concerns have led some tech companies to pull back from working on defense-related projects in the past, but for many in the AI world, the chance to work on intellectually challenging projects — and the Pentagon’s not insignificant budget — seems too good to pass up.

What’s happening: In a report released earlier this week — with the memorable title “‘Cool Projects’ or ‘Expanding the Efficiency of the Murderous American War Machine?'” — researchers at CSET surveyed 160 AI professionals about their attitudes toward working on DoD projects.

• They found nearly 40% were neutral and 38% were extremely or somewhat positive, while less than a quarter felt extremely or somewhat negative about working on a Pentagon-funded AI project.
• While some respondents said they were motivated by patriotism, and the most popular area was in humanitarian-focused projects, the biggest draw was “in doing cutting-edge research on complex problems,” says Catherine Aiken, a survey specialist at CSET and one of the co-authors of the report.

Read the full article on Axios Future.