October 24, 2023
AI Is Already at War
How Artificial Intelligence Will Transform the Military
In 2002, a special operations team practiced raiding a safehouse. The team silently approached a two-story building, built for military training, where a fictitious terrorist leader was hiding. One soldier crept up to an open window and tossed in a small drone piloted by artificial intelligence. The AI drone began flying autonomously through the building, room by room, beaming footage from its camera directly to the commander’s handheld tablet outside. In just a few minutes, the team had full situational awareness of the interior of the building. It knew which rooms were empty, which were occupied by sleeping family members, and where the primary target was. The team entered the building knowing exactly where to go, reducing the risk for each member. The drill was a success: had it been real, the team would have killed the terrorist leader.
The stakes of slowing AI down are unacceptably high, but so are the stakes of racing ahead without needed precautions.
The AI-piloted quadcopter, designed by Shield AI (where I was an adviser), has since been used in real-world operations. It is just one of the many ways that AI is beginning to reshape U.S. national security. The U.S. military is using AI to optimize everything from equipment maintenance to budgetary decisions. Intelligence analysts are relying on AI to quickly scan mountains of information to identify relevant patterns that enable them to make better judgments and to make them faster. In the future, Americans can expect AI to change how the United States and its adversaries fight on the battlefield, as well. In short, AI has sparked a security revolution—one that is just starting to unfold.
Read the full article from Foreign Affairs.
More from CNAS
-
Countering the Digital Silk Road: Indonesia
Reports
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Digital Silk Road (DSR), China’s ambitious initiative to shape critical digital infrastructure around the world to advance its geop...
By Vivek Chilukuri & Ruby Scanlon
-
How Secure Is America’s AI Advantage?
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7njJkH7XRa8...
By Paul Scharre
-
The Development of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Plan
Commentary
Strengthening and securing America’s AI dominance is crucial for U.S. national security and economic competitiveness...
By Vivek Chilukuri, Michael Depp, Bill Drexel, Janet Egan, Paul Scharre, Josh Wallin, Becca Wasser & Caleb Withers
-
ChinaTalk: Building Compute in America
Podcast
Despite leading the world in AI innovation, there’s no guarantee that America will rise to meet the challenge of AI infrastructure. Specifically, the key technological barrier...
By Tim Fist & Jordan Schneider
