Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the fields of technology that is growing very fast, with potentially significant implications for national security. As such, countries, especially the developed ones, are developing programs and technologies that will give them an edge over their adversaries. This has created a mounting pressure for potential international rivals to follow suit. Already, the United States has used AI in a number of military operations, such as the military operations in Iraq and Syria (Hoadley & Lucas, 2018). Russia and China, one of the leading competitors in the AI market, have developed plans to capture a global lead in AI development, with a primary focus on making faster and more well-informed decisions, developing autonomous military vehicles, and robotics. AI technologies have the potential to impart a wide range of advantages in the military context. AI will give militaries, their allies, and their partners advantages that will expedite and more well-informed decision-making on the battlefield, reducing the risk of casualties and collateral damage.
Many autonomous systems incorporate AI in some form. Depending on the task, these systems have the ability to augment or replace humans, freeing them up for more dangerous or complex and cognitively demanding tasks. Thus, the military stands to gain significant benefits from incorporating AI technologies on the battlefield. According to Ryan (2018), AI may replace humans in tasks that are “dull, dangerous, and dirty” (n.p). Prime examples of autonomous systems that incorporate AI include systems that collect long-duration intelligence collection and analysis, clean up environments that are contaminated with chemical weapons and sweep routes for improvised explosive devices. Incorporation such systems on the battlefield may reduce risk to warfighters as well as cut costs. For example, employing AI systems may be more attractive than “traditional warfare” because fewer body bags coming home. This is because AI systems are less prone to error, fatigue, or emotion than humans. According to Ryan (2018), these advantages create a “tactical and strategic necessity” and “a moral obligation” to incorporate AI technologies on the battlefield (n.p). Due to these benefits, AI should be incorporated in the battlefield.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
AI technologies provide a vital means of operating on a battlefield at the extreme of the time scales. AI provides militants with the ability to use autonomous systems to react at gigahertz speed, thus, dramatically accelerating the overall pace of combat (Hoadley & Lucas, 2018). This drastic increase in the pace of combat could result in a number of risks. For example, it may increase a system’s destructive potential in case the system loses control. Despite this risk, the drastic increase in the pace of combat will confer a definitive warfighting advantage, thus, mounting pressures on international rivals to extensively adopt military AI applications. Additionally, AI technologies have the potential to provide benefits in tasks that exceed human endurance. This includes long-duration tasks like intelligence gathering across large areas over a long duration of time (Hoadley & Lucas, 2018). In addition, AI systems provide the ability to autonomously detect anomalies and categorize behaviour.
AI systems also have the ability to provide a force-multiplying effect by improving the capabilities of human combats. In addition, these systems can enhance combats by infusing less expensive military systems with increased capability (Hoadley & Lucas, 2018). A prime example is the use of a low-cost drone. Although it may be less powerful than other high-tech systems, such as the F-35 stealth fighter, the deployment of many drones have the ability to overwhelm such high-tech systems (Hoadley & Lucas, 2018). This will generate a noteworthy cost-savings. By capitalizing on the scaling effects of AI, nations, even the underdeveloped ones, have the potential to have a disproportionately large impact on the battlefield.
To sum up, the use of AI in the battlefield has the potential to impart a number of advantages in the military context. AI system will give combats advantages that will expedite and more well-informed decision-making on the battlefield, reducing the risk of casualties and collateral damage. Robotics will also give the U.S military the ability to save cost as well as increase combat effectiveness. Thus, the U.S. ought to incorporate AI on the battlefield in order to have the edge over their adversaries.
References
Hoadley, D. S., & Lucas, N. J. (2018). Artificial intelligence and national security. Congressional Research Service. CRS Report
Ryan, M. (2017). Building a Future: Integrating Human-Machine Military Organization, The Strategy Bridge, December 11, 2017.
Ryan, M. (2018). Integrating Humans and Machines. The Strategy Bridge, January , 2 .
