The US believes artificial intelligence will give the Pentagon a military advantage

By TOC On Apr 3, 2020

WASINGTON, (BM) – The American Panel of Experts on Artificial Intelligence (AI) has issued the first set of recommendations to the government, the goal of which is called “the victory of the United States in the competition around artificial intelligence.”

BulgarianMilitary.com studied the commission’s report and tried to find out whose intelligence the Pentagon will grow in the future.

“In the future, the algorithmic method of warfare, the ability to rely on artificial intelligence and the autonomy that it provides, will allow us to gain the most significant advantage in the military sphere,” former US Secretary of Defense and current deputy chairman of the commission Bob Work commented on the importance of report during a telephone press conference with reporters. He said that now a kind of transition of military thought “to the digital industry” is taking place, and now “everyone is interested in making the Pentagon more like a software development company.”

Among the recommendations made by experts is a one-time doubling (up to $ 2 billion) of expenses for research in the field of artificial intelligence not related to defense issues.

This, according to the authors, will strengthen the laboratories and academic centers employed in the work on AI, and will also help lay the foundation for the general foundations of modern AI – in particular, develop technical and ethical standards and begin to apply appropriate technologies in the field of public administration, as well as other areas of science.

Regarding the defense use of AI, the authors do not give up the opportunity to call for increased investment in this area, but first recommend that they study the effectiveness of the money already used.

Mr. Wark noted that he considers this cost ratio to be correct, but advises at the moment, primarily focus on non-military research on artificial intelligence. “We believe that this is an area where we are lagging behind so far,” he said.

To promote the sphere more efficiently and to allocate additional resources to it, the commission also proposed subordinating the head of the Joint Center for Artificial Intelligence (a structural unit of the US Department of Defense) directly to the Pentagon head, and not to the chief information technology specialist, as now.

In addition, experts insist on the establishment of a special tripartite coordination committee, which should include senior representatives of the Ministry of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the representative of the office of the director of National Intelligence, “in order to support the work on introducing new technologies, which otherwise might not receive due attention.”

In addition, the report contains recommendations on increasing the production of microelectronics necessary for the work of AI, and the creation of special departments in the United States and Union countries that could engage in establishing international cooperation in these matters – and first within the framework of the Five Eyes alliance (parties to the agreement on joint electronic intelligence intelligence of the UKUS SIGINT: USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand), and then within NATO.

Attention was also paid to the use of artificial intelligence within the country – the Ministry of Internal Security and the FBI were given a recommendation to share experience in using AI with representations in the states and at the local level and monitor the success of colleagues in the regions.

A separate chapter of the report is devoted to ethical issues in the use of AI: the authors emphasize that it is extremely important that users of such systems be aware of the risks of their use and the limits of their applicability, therefore, information about this should be included in each training course on AI technology.

Among other things, it is recommended that an expert council be created, which once a year should give senior officials working in the field of national security lectures on the most pressing problems of the ethical and responsible use of AI. Another tip is to keep clear and detailed documentation in order to ensure transparency and accountability in working with AI.

However, presenting the report to reporters, its authors could not help touching upon an obvious topic – the coronavirus. “We live in an unusual time. We are all waiting for the opportunity to help in any way possible, commission chairman Eric Schmidt, one of Google’s former executives, assured the conversation participants.

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