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How Artificial Intelligence Will Make Decisions In Tomorrow’s Wars Posted on : Jan 20 - 2020

Artificial intelligence isn't only a consumer and business-centric technology. Yes, companies use AI to automate various tasks, while consumers use AI to make their daily routines easier. But governments–and in particular militaries–also have a massive interest in the speed and scale offered by AI. Nation states are already using artificial intelligence to monitor their own citizens, and as the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) revealed last week, they'll also be using AI to make decisions related to national security and warfare.

The MoD's Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) has announced the initial injection of £4 million in funding for new projects and startups exploring how to use AI in the context of the British Navy. In particular, the DASA is looking to support AI- and machine learning-based technology that will "revolutionise the way warships make decisions and process thousands of strands of intelligence and data."

In this first wave of funding, the MoD will share £1 million between nine projects as part of DASA’s Intelligent Ship – The Next Generation competition. However, while the first developmental forays will be made in the context of the navy, the UK government intends any breakthroughs to form the basis of technology that will be used across the entire spectrum of British defensive and offensive capabilities.

"The astonishing pace at which global threats are evolving requires new approaches and fresh-thinking to the way we develop our ideas and technology," said UK Defence Minister James Heappey. "The funding will research pioneering projects into how A.I and automation can support our armed forces in their essential day-to-day work."

More specifically, the project will be looking at how four concepts–automation, autonomy, machine learning, and AI–can be integrated into UK military systems and how they can be exploited to increase British responsiveness to potential and actual threats.

"This DASA competition has the potential to lead the transformation of our defence platforms, leading to a sea change in the relationships between AI and human teams," explains Julia Tagg, the technical lead at the MoD's Defence Science and Technology Laborator (Dstl). "This will ensure UK defence remains an effective, capable force for good in a rapidly changing technological landscape." View More