America’s military budget, at $615 billion, dwarfs those of its closest competitors, China ($211 billion) and Russia ($69 billion). Even with that advantage, a new report finds that the U.S. is at risk of falling behind in the race to find and create AI for military applications.
In 2014, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced that his department intended to lead the coming AI revolution with what he called the “Third Offset Strategy.” For the uninitiated, the Second Offset Strategy was in response to the buildup of conventional forces along the Central European front by the Soviet Union and its satellite states … which itself was a response to the First Offset Strategy that had the U.S. putting its own forces in the field. America didn’t want to match the Soviets soldier for soldier, so new technology like long-range sensors and a new generation of guided munitions and submunitions was developed to give the U.S. an edge.
Hagel wanted to approach the third iteration in much the same way, but in the last few years, new military uses of AI have been increasingly pioneered by the Russians and Chinese. Russia in particular is open about its development of increasingly powerful robotic systems meant for warfare, while China has announced plans to be the “the front-runner and global innovation center in AI” by 2030. Battle-ready artificial intelligence is also on the mind of NATO, which released a report Wednesday stating that NATO needs to prepare for the future of war by investing in AI.
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