Deputy defence secretary Kathleen Hicks said the main reason to integrate AI into US military operations “responsibly and at speed” is “because it improves our decision advantage”.
“From the standpoint of deterring and defending against aggression, AI-enabled systems can help accelerate the speed of commanders’ decisions, and improve the quality and accuracy of those decisions – which can be decisive in deterring a fight, and in winning a fight,” she said.
Both the US and China have invested heavily to integrate AI into their militaries, against a backdrop of accusations by Washington that Beijing is behaving aggressively in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea.
The 26-page Data, Analytics and AI Adoption Strategy notes that the US needs to strengthen deterrence against China and other strategic competitors which “have widely communicated their intentions to field AI for military advantage”.
China and the US are in a battle over AI. Experts say this is just the start
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Hicks said the Pentagon would pursue the adoption of AI and “keep doing more, safely and swiftly, given the nature of strategic competition with the PRC [People’s Republic of China], our pacing challenge”, adding that the US does not seek an AI arms race with China.
She also emphasised the importance of using AI safely. “We are mindful of AI’s potential dangers and determined to avoid them. Unlike some of our strategic competitors, we don’t use AI to censor, constrain, repress or disempower people.”
The document – which builds on the 2018 AI strategy and 2020 data strategy – focuses on how the US Department of Defence will accelerate the adoption of data, analytics and AI in a way that is repeatable across all of its components.
A Pentagon statement accompanying the document outlined the strategy as having “quality data as its foundation and a focus on speed, agility, learning and responsibility”.
Chief digital and AI officer Craig Martell said in the statement that AI would help the Defence Department “make better decisions faster, from the boardroom to the battlefield”.
The Pentagon – which has asked for US$1.8 billion to fund its AI efforts in its fiscal 2024 budget – launched a task force in August to investigate using generative AI for military missions.
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And at the end of August, it unveiled the Replicator initiative which aims to field “attritable autonomous systems” at a scale of “multiple thousands in multiple domains” within the next 18-24 months.
Hicks said the new AI strategy will advance US ability to “command and control forces” and that Replicator could help with that goal. She added that data and AI investments are yielding rapid returns for “combatant” commands like the Indo-Pacific Command.
The strategy is part of US government efforts on the “safe, secure and trustworthy development and use of artificial intelligence”, reflected in an executive order signed this week by President Joe Biden.
In a follow-up to Biden’s executive order, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday that it will establish an artificial intelligence safety institute to lead US government efforts on AI safety.
