Artificial Intelligence in the Military: Artificial Intelligence in the Military Past, Present and Future


Introduction: Introduction A brief history of how the military has developed and used A.I How A.I is used in peace times. How A.I is used during wars. A brief look at how A.I can be improved in the future and how this may be used.


The History of A.I: The History of A.I The Military has been involved in developing A.I since the beginning. During the Cold War western nations invested a great deal of money in to developing A.I Military leaders imagined future wars being fought between masses of automated robots.


The recent past: The recent past In recent years the focus of A.I research has shifted to small scale systems. These are used to support human soldiers rather than replace them. This technology has allowed the development of weapons that would not have been possible in the past.


The Present: The Present At the moment small scale systems are used to simplify combat. For example, auto-pilot, target identification and the filtering of data. A.I is also used to simulate battles, this means the same battles can be fought many times over.


A.I in Peace Times: A.I in Peace Times A.I is used to simulate attacks on a country by other countries, this can show up any weaknesses in their defences. A.I is also used in the design of new weapons, potential designs can be tested by computers before they are used.


A.I in the build up to war: A.I in the build up to war A.I is used extensively to plan how to move an army and all it’s equipment around the world efficiently. The US marines use A.I to plan the load on each of their boats. This has saved millions of dollars in only a few years.


A.I in war: A.I in war A.I is used extensively to filter information and provide what is important to the solider. A.I is used to identify targets and warn soldiers about incoming attacks. A.I is used to calculate the course of targets and firing solutions. A.I keeps advanced weapons working.


The F-117: The F-117 This plane cannot be flown by a human due to it’s design Computers take the pilots input and decide if the movement is possible. They then perform the move for the pilot, he/she has no direct control


A.I in war, continued: A.I in war, continued A.I is also used in the systems used to support a war effort. A.I can help to predict what supplies will be needed where and when. A.I can be used in robots to explore dangerous areas such as mine fields.


The future: The future In the future many small systems may well be joined together to make the vision of independent robots possible. These robots may well even be able to fight each other. For this to happen a much better “vision” system will need to be developed.


Conclusion: Conclusion A.I system have become much more useful over the last 50 years. A lot of this progress has come from using small, task specific systems. The future may well see more integration of these systems to create more “independent” weapons.