When Russia Invaded UkraineThe US Department of Defense has turned to a group of machine learning and artificial intelligence experts to understand information about the conflict.
“We have ramped up data scientists going forward,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks told WIRED in a recent interview. These technologists have created coding and machine learning algorithms, creating systems that are “especially valuable for composing a complex logistical picture,” she said.
Due to the sensitive nature of the operations in Ukraine, Hicks said she was unable to provide details on what the data team did. But Hicks says it helps demonstrate a point she and others have made in the Pentagon — that technology is fundamentally changing the nature of war and that the United States needs to adapt to maintain its advantage. me.
“I would say the bits are just as important as the bullet point, with regards to the importance of software, data, and machine learning,” says Hicks. It’s not just technology that is advancing more rapidly and in different ways; The United States also faces new international competition in emerging areas such as AI. Russia may be less of a technological threat, but China has emerged as a formidable new peer. “We know from written statements by the Chinese government that they are eager to make progress on the AI front,” said Hicks.
During the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, AI algorithms have been used to Transliteration and interpretation of the conversation on the Russian language radioand to identify Russian individuals in video posted on social media, using facial recognition technology. Cheap drones Using pre-existing algorithms for sensing and navigation is also proving a powerful new weapon against more conventional systems and strategies. One unprecedented hacking campaign against Russia shows how cybersecurity skills have become a powerful weapon against the enemy state. New weapons can now also be developed at breakneck speed, as was shown earlier this month when US says it has developed a custom drone specifically for use by Ukrainian forces. In contrast, the United States Air Force’s newest fighter, the F-35, has has been developed for more than 20 yearswith an estimated lifetime cost of $1.6 trillion.
Although the United States is helping Ukraine get through its weight by providing financial aid, conventional weapons, and new technology, there are still people — inside and outside the Pentagon — who worry that the United States is not equipped to adapt to the challenges posed by war. Future.
“Every big company has the same problem,” said Preston Dunlap, who resigned as chief architect of the Air Force Department last week. Dunlap likens the situation to how large successful businesses can be disrupted by technological change and more nimble competitors, a phenomenon that business school professors have found. Clayton Christensen summon “the innovator’s dilemma.”
Dunlap penned an open resignation letter in which he recommends steps the Department of Defense should take to adopt a more technology-focused, experimental, and agile culture. Just as a business faces technological disruption and more nimble competitors, he said, so the US military struggles to change course because it involves too many people, systems, and systems. and ingrained way of working. He suggests that advocates of change, such as Hicks, can only do so much. “I am concerned about operators having to fall into unexpected situations [conflict] without the technology available,” he said. “It’s just not where I want us to be.”
