CNAS Press Note: Human-Machine Combat Teaming

Washington, November 9 – Following Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work’s speech at the Reagan National Defense Forum on human-machine collaboration, Paul Scharre, senior fellow and director of the 20YY Future of Warfare Initiative, has written a Press Note, “Human-Machine Combat Teaming.”

The full press note is available below:

This weekend at the Reagan National Defense Forum, Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work spoke on “human-machine collaboration and combat teaming” as a core centerpiece of the Pentagon’s third offset strategy. Also called “centaur warfighting,” human-machine teaming is about leveraging the unique advantages of people and machines, including robotics and artificial intelligence, to deliver decisive advantages on the battlefield.

Human-machine combat teaming takes a page from the field of “centaur chess,” in which humans and machines play cooperatively on the same team. The best chess players in the world aren’t people (machines are better) but they aren’t machines either. Human-machine hybrid teams are the best in chess and they will be the best in combat as well. 

Scharre is available for interviews. To arrange an interview, please contact JaRel Clay at jclay@cnas.org, or call (202) 457-9410.