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June 02, 2020

The Militarization of Artificial Intelligence

By Paul Scharre

Militaries are racing to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) with the aim of gaining military advantage over competitors. And yet, there is little understanding of AI’s long-term impact on warfare. The current wave of interest in AI, largely driven by the deep-learning revolution, is relatively new, and machine-learning technology continues to evolve rapidly, buoyed by exponential growth in data and computing power. Society is only beginning to grapple with the myriad opportunities for and challenges in applying deep learning to practical problems outside of the research lab. Understanding AI’s effect on warfare is particularly challenging given the sometimes-secretive nature of military technology development and the lack of everyday settings in which military AI systems can be incrementally tested.

Read the full article in the Texas National Security Review.

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