Thursday, July 19, 2018

The Pentagon Embraces AI For Its Ships, Tanks, Aircraft, And Drones

The Pentagon, headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, taken from an airplane in January 2008. Wikipedia

Kris Osborn, National Interest: The U.S. Military's Ships, Tanks, Aircraft and Drones Are Getting AI

And that is a really big deal.

The Pentagon is making a massive push to accelerate the application of artificial intelligence to ships, tanks, aircraft, drones, weapons and large networks as part of a sweeping strategy to more quickly harness and integrate the latest innovations.

Many forms of AI are already well-underway with US military combat systems, yet new technologies and applications are emerging so quickly that Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan has directed the immediate creation of a new Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.

“The Deputy Secretary of Defense directed the DoD Chief Information Officer to standup the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center in order to enable teams across DoD to swiftly deliver new AI-enabled capabilities and effectively experiment with new operating concepts in support of DoD's military missions and business functions." DoD spokeswoman Heather Babb told Warrior Maven.

Read more ....

Update #1: But First, Infrastructure: Creating the Conditions for Artificial Intelligence to Thrive in the Pentagon (Richard Kuzma, War On The Rocks)
Update #2: Pentagon Makes Massive New AI Push - Tanks, Ships, Weapons, Drones & Networks (Warrior Maven)

WNU Editor: This is the next frontier in military innovation, and one that will definitely change warfare as we know it.

4 comments:

Bob Huntley said...

They will have to build in an edit that ensure it makes no peaceable moves towards countries listed in Table PE (perpetual enemies}. Or for that matter AI from distant worlds.

B.Poster said...

Bob,

If a country who is hostile to the US makes peaceable moves toward us, I would expect we would respond in kind. When they make hostile moves, we would be expected to respond in kind to this as well. So naturally we would our AI to be able to make peaceable moves if an adversary does.

Bob Huntley said...

You might think that but, no. Such a thought is contrary to any rationale demonstrated so far in the history of the USA. They would want a human to have control over such activities just in case, hence the table that can be changed whenever such is needed.

Anonymous said...

AI is marketing propaganda like stealth. It's a new way for the arms industry to get more funding. These systems will/are being easily compromised by much cheaper technology. Those militaries that trade their trained manpower for Digital high-tech "wonder weapons" will be defeated well before the necessary replacement troops can be hastily trained and deployed. Especially, the air power and naval air assets.

Peer and near peer advisories will neutralize most of the more complex systems early in a conflict. Their complexity will make them more vulnerable to the new generation ECM tech; in which, Russia is at least a generation ahead of the West.

The middle and end of conflict will be mostly fought by manned weapon and analog communication systems. Although, the first military to neutralize the enemy's digital communication and AI systems will allow them to preserve their advantage in hi-tech considerably longer into the conflict.