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Artificial Intelligence and the Military

“The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of

whether a submarine can swim” Edsger W. Dijkstra. The debate on artificial intelligence (AI) is

rapidly growing due to the possibility of AI knowledge surpassing human knowledge. So, what

are the implications of AI? A very important issue to discuss surrounding AI is the military’s use

of it. AI can be examined through a militaristic point of view from perspectives such as soldiers,

citizens, world leaders, and drones/UAVs. One of the main things that would affect the military

the most could be a UAV or drone.

UAVs, unmanned aerial vehicles, are piloted by remote control or onboard computers,

but in the future AI could progress and UAVs/drones would control themselves. According to

Dizdaroğlu, “The nature and range of threats to security have extremely changed” (Dizdaroğlu,

et al. 1). The United States military have been using UAVs or drones when manned flight is

considered too risky or dangerous and it gives them an “eye in the sky” to watch the actions

happening on the ground (“Drones”). Although UAVs are a great asset to have, utilizing AI with

the drone could cause many more problems. Also, the military staff at the ICMSS, Indonesia

Capital Market Student Studies, in 2015 believed that AI would be dangerous by itself , “using

only AI systems or leaving the final decision to the machine may result in deaths or losses of

friendly forces.” (Dizdaroğlu, et al.6). Although AI in UAVs used for the military is a problem,

not all UAVs with AI are bad. In fact, UAVs and AI are revolutionizing wildlife monitoring and

conservation. By using UAVs experts can use “an aerial sensor platform to monitor wildlife”

(Gaston, et al. 1). But, UAVs and drones are not the only things to consider when deciding if AI
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would be beneficial or not. In fact, a soldier's perspective on the topic makes it seem like

everything else is useless.

If AI advances and is used in the military, then world leaders or soldiers are the people

who will be working closely with AI. If it is not accepted by them missions or tasks might not go

according to plan. AI and decision making were some of the workshops discussed at the ICMSS

2015 conference. At the conference twenty seven participants were taught about AI and the

decision making process, and some of the participants shared their thoughts. One person said,

“AI is an extremely important tool for decision makers. However, using only AI systems or

leaving the final decision to the machine may result in deaths or losses of friendly forces. So,

commander should be aware of the risks.” Someone else said, “AI techniques and technologies

should be mostly considered as a supporting tool.”. Finally, “Decision makers should not expect

too much from AI systems. Beside, it may be dangerous to trust only AI techniques while

decision making due to bad or missing data that may mislead the system to a wrong decision or

conclusion” (Dizdaroğlu, et al. 6). Based on the data collected, the soldiers and military staff

believe that AI can be helpful, but only to help support a mission. Therefore, AI should not be

allowed to have the final decision in the process. Although UAVs/drones and soldiers are the

primary parts of determining whether AI is going help or not, the citizens also have a role in

determining whether AI should or should not be used.

The military consists of men and women who volunteer to serve their country, if these

citizens don’t want to work with AI then the US will not have anyone to protect. There are many

controversies as to what AI can develop into, such as killer robots, or AI turning evil. But, it

doesn’t just have conspiracy theorists scared. In fact, many big names in science and technology
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such as Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Steve Wozniak have expressed concern to

the media recently (“BENEFITS”). Stephen Hawking said, “The development of full AI could

spell the end of the human race.” (“Stephen”). If Professor Hawking and many other influential

people believe AI is something to be concerned then it might influence others to be against it.

Furthermore, if so many americans are against AI then they wouldn’t join the military if they had

AI.

In conclusion, AI is not a topic to be taken lightly. What are the implications of AI? The

implications of AI can be discussed through the perspectives of drones, soldiers, and citizens.

But, AI is still decades away from being complete, but it is still an important issue. Some

solutions to think about would be not having AI in the military because there are too many

chances for something wrong to happen. So, AI should not be used in the military but it might be

beneficial in other smaller tasks such as the example given above involving AI monitoring

wildlife and also AI has been beneficial with controlling and monitoring pH levels. But, like the

Terminator once said, “I’ll be back”.

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Work Cited

Cellan-Jones, Rory. “Stephen Hawking warns AI could end mankind” ​BBC

News,​ December 2014

Dizdaroğlu, Vural, Goztepe, Kerim, Sağıroğlu, Şeref. “NEW DIRECTIONS in MILITARY and

SECURITY STUDIES: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE and MILITARY DECISION

MAKING PROCESS.” ​International Journal of Information Security Science​, vol. 4, no.

2, June 2015.

“Drones: What are they and how do they work?” ​BBC News​, January 2012

Gaston, Kevin J, Gonzalez, Luis F, Johnson, Sandra, Mengersen, Kerrie, Montes, Glen A, Puig,

Eduard. “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Artificial Intelligence Revolutionizing

Wildlife Monitoring and Conservation.” ​Sensors,​ vol. 16, no. 1, January 2016.

Tegmark, Max. “BENEFITS & RISKS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE” ​Future of Life

Institute, ​June 2016.