Bob Larson
Last month, I wrote about Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the healthcare industry. Interestingly, AI for military applications is also being pursued aggressively by the U.S. and China with their goal to dominate the AI world by 2030. According to others, China is slowly eroding America’s military superiority through the integration of AI systems in its military capabilities, per an independent U.S. federal commission warned.
Military applications of AI technologies are being developed by the Chinese in the areas of swarming, decision support, and information operations, while the country’s defense industry is pursuing the development of increasingly autonomous weapons systems, per a report released by The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.
As the AI race between U.S. and China increases, experts indicate the U.S. still has the advantage.
However, the report said America’s leadership in AI may be at risk sooner than thought. There is a concern over forced technology transfers from U.S. companies to Chinese authorities with the ongoing intellectual property theft issues. Interestingly, the United States is preventing a UN initiative to ban autonomous killer robots as is Russia, South Korea, Israel, and Australia.
The commission reported that global leadership in AI technology is a national security priority. AI technology will change war fighting strategy, with future use possibly involving the U.S. military using AI-enabled machines, systems, or weapons that would analyze the battlefield conditions very quickly and create winning solutions.
AI also provides an advantage in national security missions where speed is vital in cybersecurity or defense systems. There are currently over 600 active AI projects in the U.S. Defense Department, according to a recent estimate. This is another use of AI technology to benefit the military and hopefully deter or prevent future warfare.
~ Bob Larson is a technologist and Marketing Director for 50 Plus.