Starfruit Lab: A Cybersecurity Dilemma Case Study
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Abstract
Starfruit Lab is a fictional artificial intelligence company, developed by two Israeli entrepreneurs. Starfruit’s proprietary machine learning algorithms were created to take advantage of vast quantities of anonymized personal and public health data, consumer genomics, and biomedical research to identify personalized dietary and legal supplement recommendations for elite athletes. The Army Application Lab, an integration team at Army Futures Command (AFC), received approval for testing a business model that allows the Department of Defense to purchase startup and small businesses with high research potential to be managed by select research and educational organizations. AAL successfully purchased Starfruit Lab for $250 million three years after the startup was created. AAL temporarily assigned responsibility to manage and oversee Starfruit Labs to AFC’s Artificial Intelligence Integration Center (AIIC) team under a new federal sandbox regulation program. The same year, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (USMA) received approval to establish a research center for Soldier Performance and Applied Health (SPAH). The SPAH Center is scheduled to take control of Starfruit’s assets from AIIC in the next six months. Starfruit Lab’s technologies will be at the center of a ten-year research project monitoring cadet physical and mental performance through personalized dietary and supplement intake. This health research project has been reviewed for human subject research implications, ethics, and safety considerations.