The future of war: technical and ethical implications of robot soldiers in modern war

The public release of ChatGPT in late 2022 has introduced radical changes to our daily lives. Companies rushed to take advantage of new technology to help them increase profits and enhance efficiency. Governments have also extensively used AI in different areas. However, the most sophisticated usage has involved the development of AI-powered soldiers.

How are AI technologies currently leveraged in military applications? To discuss the different cases of AI being used in military applications, we need to first list the advances that made leveraging AI in military operations possible.

Beginning with generative AI, which allowed people – using large language models (LLMs) like GPT-3 – to communicate with machines using their ordinary language (such as English or French) to perform the required tasks instead of inputting code.

In a military context, these models are used for intelligence analysis, military mission planning, and even psychological operations – such as sentiment analysis.

The second advancement in AI technologies lies in computer vision. This technology allows AI-powered systems to interpret videos and images in a way that is similar to that of human vision systems.

For example, by integrating computer vision into surveillance cameras, these cameras will become able to automatically identify objects appearing in videos and execute predefined commands based on what they see without any human intervention.

In military applications, this includes object detection in satellite imagery for identifying military equipment (e.g., tanks and anti-air missile systems), facial recognition for personnel identification, and target acquisition in combat scenarios.

Another advancement in AI that facilitates its use in military operations is the capability of AI-powered systems to make decisions. For instance, the rapid advance of autonomous vehicles and their usage as taxis without needing a driver has enhanced AI-powered machines to take actions without returning to human input. This extends to AI-powered battle management systems and autonomous weapon systems in military contexts.

These advancements in AI technology have cleared the way towards utilizing AI to support different military applications.

It’s worth noting that the US military used AI to support different military applications for years before AI technologies became common for public use. For instance, the US Army was using AI to support different military divisions in the following areas:

• Autonomous vehicles: These vehicles can deliver supplies in dangerous areas or be used for mine clearance in war fields. Other areas for using autonomous vehicles include using ground robots and electric combat vehicles.
• Electronic warfare: AI-powered systems can send jamming signals against enemy communications networks and radars by adapting their frequencies according to the equipment types used by the enemy.
• Decision making: When there are large numbers of data streams coming to the command center, AI-powered systems can aid officers in the decision-making process by providing suggestions tailored to the current battlefield landscape.
• Predictive analysis: Predicting enemy movements based on historical data and real-time intelligence.

In terms of computing, AI has been widley used to protect critical military networks and information systems. Here are some use cases:

• Process and analyze large volumes of data: to gain insight or acquire actionable intelligence from such data (such as drone video surveillance).

• Create combat simulations: Simulators provide a cost-effective means to train soldiers on using modern military equipment instead of paying huge amounts of money to execute real military exercises.
• Cyber threat monitoring: ML algorithms can be used to process large volumes of threat data to detect zero-day threats and emerging attacks better than traditional security solutions.
• Analysis of satellite images: AI-powered systems can analyze large volumes of satellite images and detect objects in photos, and compare them to previous versions instantly to detect ground movements or the establishment of new bases.
• Language translation: Leveraging AI tools allows soldiers serving in foreign countries to communicate with local people with ease

Another widely used technique in combat fields is the use of intelligent sensors powered by AI. These systems present information through specialized glasses or helmet-mounted displays.

Intelligent sensors are becoming widely used in modern combat fields. They now leverage AI to enhance situational awareness (to detect and classify various environmental elements) and decision-making for soldiers. Soldiers can wear these sensors to continuously scan and analyze their surrounding areas to provide real-time insights directly to the soldiers.

What are AI-powered soldiers?

The term "AI-powered soldiers" can be used to describe two ways in which AI is leveraged for soldiers in military contexts:

Using AI by a human soldier: In this context, AI systems are used to enhance a human soldier's capabilities. These systems process and analyze information, which leads to improving situational awareness and decision-making in combat fields. For instance, advanced helmet-mounted displays can use AI to recognize potential threats in the soldier's field of view. AI-powered simulators also fall within this group. Modern armies are increasingly using AI-powered simulators for training to cut costs and provide more rich environment.

Autonomous systems: The AI system performs and decides on military targets of this type. AI systems are designed to perform military tasks with different degrees of autonomy, which include:

• Autonomous drones for reconnaissance and surveillance. It can also play offensive operations.
• AI-controlled uncrewed ground vehicles for logistics, mine clearance, and also for combat support – such as unmanned tanks.
• AI-powered cyberwarfare systems that can defend networks or launch counter-attacks.
• Autonomous drones for reconnaissance and surveillance. It can also play offensive operations.
• AI-controlled uncrewed ground vehicles for logistics, mine clearance, and also for combat support - -such as unmanned tanks.
• AI-powered cyberwarfare systems that can defend networks or launch counter-attacks.

What are the ethical and technical challenges of using AI in military operations?

The most concerning aspect of leveraging AI in military operations is the potential use of fully autonomous military equipment with independent decision-making capabilities that could execute deadly operations without human intervention.

For example, using unsupervised drones to bomb ground targets without human intervention can lead to killing innocent people.

Here are some of the most prominent ethical challenges:

• Accountability: When military machines powered with AI systems make decisions leading to unintended consequences such as killing someone. Who will bear the moral and legal responsibility? For example, the AI system, its developers, or the military commanders who launch the autonomous machine.
• Human judgment dilemma: AI systems will certainly possess a different understanding of complex situations than humans have. For instance, an AI-powered military robot tasked with freeing hostages from a civilian facility might decide to open fire on terrorists even if civilians are in the line of fire. In contrast, a human soldier would likely assess the current context more comprehensively, potentially seeking alternative approaches to minimize civilian casualties. This limitation in AI contextual awareness and ethical decision-making capabilities poses important risks in sensitive military operations.
• Bias and unfairness in detecting targets: AI systems rely on massive amounts of training data from different sources. Threat actors could exploit this dependency by injecting manipulated data into training datasets. Such data poisoning attacks could result in AI-powered military machines performing discriminatory behavior, leading to target misidentification. This bias could cause severe consequences, such as causing casualties to innocent civilians. What makes this vulnerability more critical is that discovering these biases is very difficult and may not appear until deploying the machines in real-war scenarios.
• Reducing the cost of war: A significant result of using machinery soldiers or robots in wars instead of human soldiers is decreasing the cost of war to a great extent. This fact could fuel the war worldwide as political leaders will be more willing to engage in armed conflicts, which will greatly increase the frequency of wars.
• Arms race between nations: The development of AI-powered weapons will undoubtedly lead to a new arms race. For instance, pushed by their low price, nations will rush to develop more advanced military machines powered by AI systems. This will undoubtedly lead to destabilizing global security.
• Cybersecurity risks: Similar to traditional software systems, AI-powered military systems could be vulnerable to cyberattacks. This allows adversaries to take control of deadly autonomous weapons.