ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

China is investing in artificial intelligence at a “much, much faster pace” than the U.S. government, though It is not yet ahead, a prominent AI expert recently told Army intelligence planners.

Tuomas Sandholm, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and a renowned expert on artificial intelligence, made his remarks at a lecture sponsored by the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command’s intelligence division and the Association of the U.S. Army’s Virginia Colonial chapter.

Soldiers fighting alongside robots on future battlefields will build trust with their unmanned comrades only if they understand why the machine is doing what it’s doing.

Artificial intelligence has broad military applications, but effectiveness on land combat systems could be limited in the opening stages of the next war, warns a new essay from the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare.

Written by Lt. Col. Stephan Pikner as part of an Army Strategist Association essay contest, the paper warns of “large blind spots” during opening stages of war because of how AI-enabled systems learn.

Army systems using artificial intelligence will require battlefield security to prevent information from being altered or blocked, says the U.S. Army Research Laboratory director, who specializes in sensors and electronic devices.

Speaking at the Army Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence Symposium and Exposition in Detroit, Philip Perconti cautioned that data can be hacked, and signals and information in the field can be altered. If that happens, soldiers will lose trust in the systems and turn them off. 

The application of artificial intelligence to solving battlefield challenges runs a risk of making it harder on commanders, warns Peter Schwartz, the lead enterprise systems engineer for the MITRE Corp.

Artificial intelligence and autonomous systems “are no longer science fiction,” said Gen. John M. Murray, the U.S. Army Futures Command commanding general and the soldier charged with building vast new capabilities for future battles.

While a national commission is forming to review implications of artificial intelligence in national security programs, the Association of the U.S. Army will host a two-day symposium in Detroit looking at ways autonomous systems, machine learning and robotics can be used to expand capabilities and solve military problems.

Hosted by AUSA’s Institute of Land Warfare, the Army Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence Symposium and Exposition will be held Nov. 28–29 at the Cobo Center on the riverfront in downtown Detroit.

Technology will continue to advance and provide new ways to help leaders make decisions, but 30 years from now it will still be the mutual trust and confidence between humans that will ensure responsible command, said Maj. Gen. John S. Kem, commandant of the U.S. Army War College.

Robotics and artificial intelligence will be in widespread use on the battlefield as soon as within the next decade, which is why the Army is investing in those technologies now, the Army’s top leaders told a Senate committee.

In recent testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Army Secretary Mark T. Esper and Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley outlined a future scenario in which the Army will have manned and unmanned combat vehicles on the battlefield. There will be flexibility in how they are used, and they will provide better protection for soldiers.