Artificial Intelligence (AI) should prove to be the most powerful and influential change to our military since the Atomic Bomb

As we see the promise of AI to enrich the human experience by expanding our knowledge and increasing our human experience through innovation. This has been recognized by our advisories and has created a threat that we may not have anticipated. The race to harness this power by Russia and China is being done to overcome the strength of the United States. The country that fields the most advance AI solutions will be able to overtake those that believe the old ways will prevail. This revolution will impact all facets of society, from the way we are marketed to how our homes are built. Although we have not yet really understood the impact of AI, Congress has been asked to fund AI within the defense budget in the amount of $32 billion. The amount is substantial enough to understand that many recent breakthroughs have had an impact. Recently a Top Gun pilot in a simulated dogfight with an F-14 flight simulator found that the AI-driven simulator significantly out-performed the human. The Chinese and the Russians have adopted cyber warfare activities that exploit our strategic vulnerabilities. This deepening threat occurs through malware, disinformation as well as the piracy of our intellectual technology. It can’t be a surprise that this threat is increasing and the best way to counter it, is to advance our own AI initiative. To use AI to better understand and detect threats whether in the real world or the virtual world.

In a recent book review, Defence of Europe, Oxford University Press by General John R Allen USMC, Lieut-General Ben Holges, and Professor Julian Lindley-French, the book describes a conflict that occurs in 2029 that employs AI to destabilize the West. It is based around a pandemic, several disinformation campaigns, destabilization of our economies, and power grids all the way through to advance military tactics that are a compendium of a highly orchestrated battle plan. Somehow the book is too close to the present circumstances and will give the reader moment of pause. The challenge that we are grappling with is overcoming entrenched organizational and cultural barriers. As many of the ubiquitous AI functions that we are exposed to daily through our cell phones may seem clever, convincing leaders that our defenses will be deployed in data centers and not on military bases will be a tough one. As Space Force develops the ability to beam energy to a stranded satellite, or the Army develops nuclear pellets to fuel vehicles, much of what we believe about AI seems to be nothing more than science fiction. But just as electricity changed the world, so will AI.