Testifying before the US House of Armed Services Committee, General Mattis confirms the US intention to enhance its AI capabilities
Winning wars with computer algorithms and artificial intelligence are hot topics among various global Defence Department officials. Cyber warfare, big data or voting manipulation has become mainstream with countries trying to deploy the latest technology for defence and security.
In a recent article published by Avionics, the U.S. Defense Department (DOD) is looking to improve its military artificial intelligence capabilities and could be evaluating if a joint office should be established.
While testifying before the US House of Armed Services Committee, and responding to Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass) on his concern that China aims to match US AI capabilities, General Mattis said that;
The article posted by Avionics, went on to say that a DOD spokesman declined to elaborate on the potential of join office but went on to say that the Pentagon’s new national defence strategy would include various technological solutions which would require investment which would allow the US to maintain its dominance.
We are all familiar with the recent fallout at google, with regards to Project Maven. A DoD press release on Project Maven says the project aims to help deal with the “millions of hours of video” the military collects. Drone footage is pouring into the Pentagon at a rate faster than human analysts can keep up with, so the hope is that machine learning could help do some of the heavy lifting and identify interesting footage. Google’s TensorFlow AI was being used to analyse film footage and flag any objects of interest captured by US unmanned vehicles.
Another interesting mention in Avionics article, is the US interest in hypersonics, which are weapons that can fly five times faster than sound. According to an article published by DefenceOne, DARPA and the U.S. Air Force are working on two hypersonic weapon concepts. One is the Tactical Boost Glide weapon. The other is the hypersonic air-breathing weapon concept, whose scramjet engine takes in air at supersonic speeds, compresses it, and pushes it through a nozzle out the back.
“Our goal is to put something in the air, not have another study or something like this,” Mattis testified in response to a question from Rep. Steve Knight.
Elsewhere at the New America Future of War Conference, and based on information outlined in the National Defense Strategy, Michael D.Griffin, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering said, he feels the United States can modernize in more than 10 areas of national security, including artificial intelligence, to remain prepared for the future of war in the cyber realm.
“In an advanced society, the number of different ways to be vulnerable increases greatly,” he said. “Artificial intelligence and cyber and some of these newer realms offer possibilities to our adversaries to do that. We must see to it that we cannot be surprised.”
