AI: Changing the face of defence

The US, China, Russia and the UK are among a growing number of countries that are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning as they look to develop a new generation of advanced weapons system. The Pentagon, in the US, has made a commitment to spend $2 billion over the next five years through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Its OFFSET programme, for example, is looking to develop drone swarms comprising of up to 250 unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) and/or unmanned ground systems (UGSs) for deployment across a number of diverse and complex environments. In China, there are a growing number of collaborations between defence and academic institutions in the development of AI and machine learning and Tsinghua University has launched the Military-Civil Fusion National Defense Peak Technologies Laboratory to create "a platform for the pursuit of dual-use applications of emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence." Russia has gone one step further and is creating a new city named Era, which is devoted entirely to military innovation.