As Putin takes a new policy position, the role of AI on the battlefield is debated

As world leaders join forces to shape joint policies around the development of artificial intelligence, policymakers are looking to use the technology on future battlefields — including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The West should not be allowed to monopolize AI, Putin said at a recent conference on AI and indicated that he would advance Russia's AI strategy, according to a report on Friday by Reuters.

“In the very near future, as one of the first steps, a presidential decree will be signed, and a new version of the national strategy for the development of artificial intelligence will be approved,” Putin said during the artificial intelligence travel conference.

Amid a veritable AI arms race between the United States and China, the competition between Microsoft, Google and Amazon to bring advanced AI to the masses has been compared to a nuclear arms race. On that front, top US military contractors including Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Raytheon are developing AI technology for military operations.

Another company working on AI combat is San Diego-based Shield AI, recently featured in the Netflix documentary Unknown: Killer Robots.

Shield AI is an American aerospace and defense technology company founded in 2015 by brothers Brandon Teng and Ryan Teng along with Andrew Reiter. Shield AI is used by the US military for the Nova Line Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) in urban areas where GPS or radio frequencies are not available.

While automated war machines may offer visions of the T-800 from the Terminator series, Logan says the purpose of bringing AI to the battlefield is to save lives.

“Nova's breakthrough was that you could press a button and explore that building, and Nova would fly into that building, and she'd go into a room and turn around 360 degrees, sensing the environment and making decisions based on what it was. Do, and then continue exploring,” said Willie Logan, director of engineering at Shield AI. “The whole purpose of that was to deliver,” he told Decrypt. [soldiers] On-the-ground impressions of what's inside the building before they go inside themselves.

Shield AI calls its AI software the “hive brain.” As Logan explained, the difference between an AI-powered UAV and a human-piloted one is that instead of how a human flies the UAV and tells the operator to identify the target, the AI ​​is programmed to find the target and take control once the object is found.

In addition to adding AI intelligence to drones, Shield AI partnered with defense contractor Kratos Defense to add an AI pilot to the Valkyrie XQ-58A unmanned fighter jet. In October, Shield AI announced a $200 million investment, giving the company a $2.7 billion valuation.

The US military has invested heavily in AI development, including generative AI to perform virtual military operations based on military documents embedded in the AI ​​model.

In August, Defense Department Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks unveiled the Pentagon's Replicator initiative to “deploy thousands of autonomous systems in multiple domains over the next 18 to 24 months.”

Among others developing battlefield AI, European AI defense developer Helsing announced in September that it had raised $223 million in Series B funding from Swedish aircraft and car maker Saab, maker of the Gripen fighter jet.

Logan says that while the idea of ​​killer robots might be good for a Hollywood blockbuster, AI is about protecting people from harm and keeping them from affecting humanity.

“I highlighted the shield part of the Shield AI,” Logan said. “By giving this capability to the United States, [Shield AI] It's providing protection,” Logan cautioned, noting that just because the United States doesn't develop AI weapons for war doesn't mean other countries won't.

“I think if we can be at the forefront of it and design it in a way that we think is the right way for the world to use it,” Logan said. “We help prevent bad actors from doing it the wrong way.”

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.