Copyright Breaking Defense
As the US military races to harness artificial intelligence, experts say the biggest AI breakthroughs may not come from “killer robots” or autonomous war machines, but from algorithms quietly transforming logistics, intelligence and decision-making behind the scenes. In a new Breaking Defense video on the future of military AI, Breaking Defense Editor-in-Chief Aaron Mehta and our in-house AI expert Sydney Freedberg are joined by Kateryna Bondar of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Joshua Wallin of the Center for a New American Security to explore what the next five years may hold and where challenges still loom ahead. Freedberg pointed to the Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control initiative and the Joint Fires Network as examples of how the US wants to fuse vast data streams to speed up military decision-making. These systems aim to identify and prioritize targets in a process that could be compared to “Amazon recommendations, except for bombing things,” Freedberg quipped. While the US and its allies are investing billions of dollars in unmanned and AI-enabled systems, Wallin cautioned that developing physical autonomy remains complicated. And American forces have a long way to go to decide and test how drone wingmen, uncrewed submersibles and autonomous ground vehicles will aid troops in real life. “Air is sort of easier, sea is a little bit harder, and then ground has been very difficult,” Wallin said. “It’s a cluttered environment. It’s difficult to operate in. It’s very dynamic.”
