Admiral: Artificial Intelligence Will Be A Wingman, Not a Lead - Seapower

The Navy is very much on board for integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning into its networks, but human decision makers must always be part of the decision process in warfighting, an admiral said. "From a warfighting perspective, artificial intelligence subsets would be enablers or augments to the human in the loop," said Rear Adm. Paul Spedero Jr., director, Fleet Integrated Readiness and Analysis, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, speaking April 8 during a Navy League webinar sponsored by Deloitte. "That has always been our approach. I don't see that changing. There are some things that can't be replaced; the experience of a seasoned warfighter in the field being able to assess things that a machine -- no matter how much we teach it -- may never be able to pick up on. There's always going to be a necessity for [experience-based decision making]. That necessity for war fighting will never go away -- to have a human in the loop. "AI will be our wingmen," he said. "It will not be the lead in a fight." Spedero said in the world of data analysis, his current focus, there "certainly is a place for AI, particularly machine learning, as we try to get to that predictive and prescriptive level of data analytics.