Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a massive role in cyber attacks and is proving both a "double-edged sword" and a "huge challenge," according to NATO. "Artificial intelligence allows defenders to scan networks more automatically, and fend off attacks rather than doing it manually. But the other way around, of course, it's the same game," David van Weel, NATO's Assistant Secretary-General for Emerging Security Challenges, told reporters earlier this month. Cyber attacks, both on national infrastructures and private companies, have ramped up exponentially and become a focal point since the war in Ukraine. NATO said this year that a cyber attack on any of its member states could trigger Article 5, meaning an attack on one member is considered an attack on all of them and could trigger a collective response.

NATO has officially kicked off two new efforts meant to help the alliance invest in critical next-generation technologies and avoid capability gaps between its member nations. For months, officials have set the ground stage to launch a new Defense Innovator Accelerator -- nicknamed DIANA -- and establish an innovation fund to support private companies developing dual-use technologies. Both of those measures were formally agreed upon during NATO's meeting of defense ministers last month in Brussels, said Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. Allies signed the agreement to establish the NATO Innovation Fund and launch DIANA on Oct. 22, the final day of the two-day conference, Stoltenberg said in a media briefing that day. He expects the fund to invest €1 billion (U.S. $1.16 billion) into companies and academic partners working on emerging and disruptive technologies.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the military alliance of 30 countries that border the North Atlantic Ocean, this week announced that it would adopt its first AI strategy and launch a "future-proofing" fund with the goal of investing around $1 billion. Speaking at a news conference, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that the effort was in response to "authoritarian regimes racing to develop new technologies." NATO's AI strategy will cover areas including data analysis, imagery, cyberdefense, he added. NATO said in a July press release that it was "currently finalizing" its strategy on AI" and that principles of responsible use of AI in defense will be "at the core" of the strategy. Speaking to Politico in March, NATO assistant secretary general for emerging security challenges David van Weel said that the strategy would identify ways to operate AI systems ethically, pinpoint military applications for the technology, and provide a "platform for allies to test their AI to see whether it's up to NATO standards."

NATO officials are kicking around a new set of questions for member states on artificial intelligence in defense applications, as the alliance seeks common ground ahead of a strategy document planned for this summer. The move comes amid a grand effort to sharpen NATO's edge in what officials call emerging and disruptive technologies, or EDT. Autonomous and artificial intelligence-enabled weaponry is a key element in that push, aimed at ensuring tech leadership on a global scale. Exactly where the alliance falls on the spectrum between permitting AI-powered defense technology in some applications and disavowing it in others is expected to be a hotly debated topic in the run-up to the June 14 NATO summit. "We have agreed that we need principles of responsible use, but we're also in the process of delineating specific technologies," David van Weel, the alliance's assistant secretary-general for emerging security challenges, said at a web event earlier this month organized by the Estonian Defence Ministry.