Artificial Intelligence is the future of technology in war. This specific field is constantly adapting to developing new products that challenge the current boundaries. Unlike what is typical in animals and humans, Artificial Intelligence is a type of intelligence that is demonstrated by machines. AI has the ability to complete certain tasks in more efficient and effective ways. A current, prominent fault of AI is it’s inability to solve multiple problems or tasks at once; instead, they are more trained to work on a single task which results in their incapacity to adapt in different environments. 

Our transition into Artificial Intelligence has been slowly augmenting throughout history. During the revolutionary war, soldiers were equipped with muskets, very inaccurate guns. Therefore, the strategy of war was dictated by this technology. The soldiers in “ranks of two or three lines would fire as many balls as possible at the enemy. In volleys, a front row of soldiers would fire. While the first row reloaded, the second row would fire, with the process repeating itself until ordered not to” (1). They focused on speed instead of accuracy, firing as fast as possible. However with this progression of technology, there have also been negative effects. During World War I, the use of machine guns resulted in the lack of accountability concerning injuries from such weaponry. In the past years, the catastrophic affect of guns have progressed to drones. The United States of America attempted to cut the The Ho Chi Minh trail which costs about one billion years per year, without even preventing the infiltration. However, this type of warfare still is appealing to may. The progression of this type of data collection from sensors will continue to improve in the military. 

Countries are constantly attempting to improve their AI for military purposes by investing more time and money. In 2017, China released a plan to become the global leader in AI development by 2030. Highly concentrated and widespread efforts into AI development will inevitably put humans in the position to assess the aforementioned implications of autonomous weapons. The pentagon launched a program during 2018, called the Joint Artificial Intelligence Centre, in order to progress further in the advancement in AI. The Pentagon has already spent about one billion dollars on AI in this year alone and plans to use more throughout the year and the future. 

As technology progresses and AI becomes more advanced, the increase in violence and lack of accountability will also increase. The United Nations have acknowledged this issue through voicing their instance on banning certain weapons in countries. This moral issue does not always hold in the grand view of war. Countries are not always worried about the morally correct choice when creating new technology. We are at a point of no return.

Sources:

1. https://www.volocars.com/blog/the-evolution-of-war

Pictures:

https://engineering.fb.com/ml-applications/artificial-intelligence-revealed/

Original British EIC P-1771 Brown Bess Flintlock Musket- 1770/80's Dated & Marked Lock