Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin addresses the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence at its 2021 summit in Washington on global emerging technology. A recently published Army notice asks the defense industry to design AI software that can predict an enemy's battlefield tactics. (Video screenshot)
The Army wants artificial intelligence that can predict what an enemy will do next, and it’s looking for outside help to turn its wish into reality.
The service published a notice last week saying it seeks software for its intelligence analysts that can run 3D simulations showing how the situation on a battlefield could evolve.
The notice to the defense industry spells out the Army’s wish list for a system that uses AI, which Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and service leaders have said is a top tech modernization priority.
Issued by troops based at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, the request for information assumes a future in which human soldiers are surrounded by weaponry and vehicles guided by AI.
These tech-driven wars will require commanders to learn new ways of fighting rapidly. The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and an earlier armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan are cited as examples.
In both instances, tactics changed so quickly that intelligence analysts struggled to predict what the enemy would do, the notice said.
Ideally, the AI system created for the service would analyze disparate bits of intelligence, forecast what the enemy is doing and predict vulnerabilities, all while running on a laptop and being easy to learn and use, the notice said.
The request follows several years of multibillion-dollar investment by the Army in artificial intelligence.
Military leaders say AI can help commanders understand the voluminous amounts of intelligence data gathered on the battlefield. In addition to the U.S., Russia and especially China have emerged as deep-pocketed investors in AI technology.
Defense companies that have the ability to build a prototype AI are asked in the notice to send the Army information about what they can do and how much money and time it would take to build the software.
