Beijing is using artificial intelligence, not only to repress domestic dissidents and minorities, the Defense Secretary said, but to develop and export autonomous weapons.
“It’s not enough to develop and procure systems anymore. We’ve got to get in the business of of buying ideas and generating ideas,” says Air Force acquisition czar Will Roper.
U.S. and China Racing to Weaponize AI
By Bill Gertz, Asia Times: "The Pentagon is racing to outpace China in building military artificial intelligence (AI) systems ranging from vehicle maintenance to advanced warfighting tools like cyber weapons and drones, according to U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper."
By Jobie Turner, War Room: "In the Pentagon everyone fancies themselves a strategist. Every graduate of professional military education, every contractor with a new weapon system, every think-tank or consultancy pundit: all feel that if they were only given the chance, they could impose order with the right “big idea.”"
Edit by Daniel Egel, Eric Robinson, Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Charles T. Cleveland, and Christopher (CJ) Oates
An Artificial-Intelligence and Machine-Learning Roadmap for the Military
By Scott Humr, Modern War Institute: "Changes in military technological paradigms have a way of sneaking up on us. Complacency, rooted in confirmation bias, can always encourage the belief that new technologies will not change the character or war. Yet, the ascent of artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies have the potential to upend the current status quo character of war."
(Army Times) Soldiers today can launch pocket-sized drones to check out terrain ahead of them. But if a promising Army project proves out, a future soldier might deploy a host of “shape-shifting” particles that form themselves into whatever they need to accomplish the mission.
(C4ISRNET) The Missile Defense Agency has selected four companies to develop prototype sensors capable of detecting and tracking hypersonic weapons from space, the agency announced Oct. 29.
This laser-equipped dune buggy will destroy drones
(C4ISRNET) Under a clear sky on a distant battlefield in a not-too-distant future, American soldiers may find themselves beset by a surprise swarm of drones. Signalling for help, their salvation may come in the form of a specially equipped dune buggy, its lasers blasting multiple drones out of the sky every minute.
Will the Pentagon adopt these five AI principles?
(C4ISRNET) A military advisory committee endorsed a list Oct. 31 of principles for the use of artificial intelligence by the Department of Defense, contributing to an ongoing discussion on the ethical use of AI and AI-enabled technology in both combat and non-combat purposes.
(C4ISRNET) A group of technology experts chartered by Congress to guide American efforts in artificial intelligence have released their initial report on how to ensure AI development stays on track inside the United States. And, overall, there’s a lot of work to do.
First, Manage Security Threats to Machine Learning by Rand Waltzman and Thomas Szayna
The Real Value of Artificial Intelligence in Nuclear Command and Control by Philip Reiner and Alexa Wehse
(C4ISRNET) Unlike in the counterinsurgency fight of the last 18 years, the Department of Defense’s focus on Russia and China has forced leaders to confront the idea that the military may not be superior in all aspects of war. This may be especially true in the electromagnetic spectrum.
(Defense One) As ISIS spread its caliphate to large swaths of the Middle East in 2014, the Obama administration and its European allies faced a challenge: how to meet this new threat in a political environment that disfavored large military deployments à la Iraq and Afghanistan.
By Yasmin Tadjdeh, National Defense Magazine: "A much-anticipated interim report from the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence — which was tasked by Congress to research ways to advance the development of AI for national security and defense purposes — was released Nov. 4."
By Brett Tingley, The WarZone: "The U.S. Navy has been quietly developing what could be one of the most important, transformative, and fascinating advances in naval combat, and warfare in general, in years. This new electronic warfare "system of systems" has been clandestinely refined over the last five years ..."
Army Evaluating Advanced Fire Control Optics for Non-Infantry Soldiers
By Matthew Cox, Military.com: "Army infantry officials at Fort Benning, Georgia, are testing a handful of advanced fire control optics in an effort to one day help non-combat arms soldiers shoot more accurately against close-quarter and long-range enemy targets."