AI in Military Enabling Applications
The public debate over military use of artificial intelligence (AI) mainly revolves around autonomous weapons systems. Looking beyond the specific ethical and political considerations associated with that issue, there are important questions relating to the organizational, technical, and functional integration of AI-enabled systems that determine the balance between potential benefits and risks.
In the summer of 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin argued that the nation that had a leading edge in the sphere of artificial intelligence (AI) would be able to “rule the world”. This statement, like other similarly worded contributions to public debates, suggested a unitary technology with revolutionary impact, similar to the atom bomb. The reality, however, is much more complex. Apt analogies would be the introduction of electric power or the rise of the internet – technical achievements that have influenced all spheres of human life in manifold and often contradictory ways.