In December 2021, the Australian Army confirmed its plan to prototype a Microsoft Azure-based cognitive solution that helps transcribe and assess combat radio communications for improved tactical and analytical decision-making. Artificial intelligence can be used to boost your eCommerce sales by personalizing the shopping experience, providing product recommendations, and automating tasks. This prototype is the initial phase of the command, control, and communications procedure optimization initiative focused on exploring the modern technologies that could have used in future operations.
It is expected that the automation of speech-to-text transcription feature and turning these transcripts more searchable could enhance situational awareness, and help soldiers focus more performing crucial tasks.
This solution has been designed within the Army Land Network Integration Centre’s Microsoft Azure environment and makes use of native cognitive services to transcribe and process natural language. Artificial intelligence is utilized to look for communications for inferring insights about the war with a presentation layer via Power BI.
Artificial Intelligence and Its Impact on Military
Technology is a major factor that decides the speed of societal progression while redefining social aspects and parameters with different outputs. AI’s rapid emergence has been motivating worldwide powers to work on controlling and maneuvering modern technologies, in order to elevate their dominance within the artificial intelligence market is now the power-based parameter between the global superpowers. AI and machine learning are rapidly transforming the world, impacting everything from the way we work to the way we interact with each other.
AI now decides the nation’s efficiency in modern warfare, enabling the military to deal with complex impediments via effective and cutting-edge techniques. Worldwide military institutions as well as countries are striving to detect areas that could use the technology for military operations.
Artificial intelligence is witnessing major demand as the technology helps improve multi-layer capacity of the military forces in dealing with a wide spectrum of war situations in hostile environments. AI facilitates faster decision-making in not only a robust data dense environment but in information sparse circumstances.
AI’s integration with general military operations also helps upgrade administration, personal management, logistics, training, maintenance, along with routine exercises or activities. It brings down overall workload, freeing up the soldiers to focus more on the core/more vital functions. AI in medical imaging is revolutionizing the healthcare industry, enabling more accurate diagnoses, earlier interventions, and personalized treatments. Artificial intelligence also facilitates faster (Observe-Orient-Decide-Act (OODA) loop, creating secure combat intelligent clouds and upgrading the Command-and-Control abilities of the armed forces by establishing a highly automated data-oriented approach.
Artificial intelligence’s chances of success in the marine industry have grown multifold with the extensive use of maritime domain knowledge having high volume real time analytic abilities. AI in marine and air warfare helps address any kind of challenge, providing instantaneous responses in the battlefield. Artificial intelligence offers split second situational responses, which are highly accurate and allow the pilots and vessel engineers to gain the upper hand in conflict zones.
Surging Cyber Attack Threats to Foster Military Applications of AI
The military industry across various countries is frequently facing the threat of sophisticated cyberattacks. To cite a reference, in September 2019, the US tech firm, SolarWinds was hacked, which revealed highly sensitive information about several universities, the US government agencies, and hospitals. Something similar took place in October 2020, when the US Cyber Command and the FBI confirmed that a North Korean group had successfully hacked individual experts, government entities, and think tanks of Japan, South Korea, and the US, to illegally gather intelligence, such as the nuclear policies.
At present, the cybersecurity technology used by the military in a few countries is ill-equipped at dealing with sophisticated ransomware and advanced spyware threats. The incidents mentioned above highlight the significance of using cutting-edge AI-enabled cybersecurity solutions. Artificial intelligence-enabled cybersecurity tools and solutions help independently collect information from different sources, assess the data, and then detect the chances of cyberattacks, eventually facilitating a faster and relevant action-based response.
Surge in Government Funds to Benefit the AI in Military Market
Notable increase in cross-border tensions and conflicts between nations has steered the focus towards upgrading the defense services. Such conflicts have raised the need for highly innovative AI-based weapon systems as well as the integration of modern technologies into the existing systems for higher efficiency.
Several government bodies worldwide are spending generously on the upgradation of the existing defense systems. The governments are also setting up special departments that are completely dedicated to initiating, integrating, and planning AI resources into the systems and equipment while creating new competencies.
What are the Military Applications of Artificial Intelligence?
Logistics
A significant factor that has an important role in deciding military operations’ success is logistics. The integration of geospatial analysis and machine learning with the logistical systems in the military sector helps bring down the overall time, error, and effort.
Surveillance
Artificial intelligence technology in line with geospatial analysis helps extract all the crucial intelligence from the extensively connected equipment like automatic identification systems, and radars. This intelligence helps detect any form of suspicious or illegal activities and then inform the authority. AI robots coupled with computer vision backed by IoT also help identify and classify the target.
Training
Training remains a highly dynamic multidisciplinary field that makes use of software and systems engineering principles to develop models, which are used by the soldiers for learning about different combat systems used throughout the actual military operations.
Cybersecurity
In the military industry, cyberspace is touted to be a third warfare form after sea, air, and land. A malicious and compromised network could have a severe security-based impact on the entire region. Many of the establishments are increasingly deploying machine learning to detect and safeguard the networks from malicious intrusions. This detection of intrusions is carried out by categorizing the network as intrusive or normal. AI-enabled methods help bolster the accuracy of these kinds of classification.
Profound Learning and Artificial Neural Networks
Advances in profound learning as well as artificial neural networks has augmented the use of AI in numerous industries, like healthcare, aerospace, automotive, and manufacturing. But the highest demand is generated by the global military industry.
ANN is fast emerging as the top substitute for traditional machine learning solutions, while evolving to more accurate and precise versions. For example, latest innovations in computer vision technology, like Single Shot MultiBox Detector (SSD), and Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) have paved the way for advanced digital image processing methods. The videos and images that are taken in low resolution or low light can be converted into HD quality with the use of the aforementioned techniques.
Frequent research activities with respect to computer vision has boosted the position of digital image processing in surveillance and security in the military sector. These new machine learning techniques are expected to change the way AI versions are deployed.
Major Regions with Thriving AI in Military Markets
North America will remain the most notable region in the worldwide market, thanks to the supportive government initiatives encouraging artificial intelligence’s deployment in the military sector. In February 2019, the US President had introduced the American AI Initiative as the country’s strategy to further embrace artificial intelligence. The initiative helped the Federal agencies bolster the public trust in artificial intelligence-based equipment and systems. The guidelines facilitated the real-life deployment of these systems across the military sector, among other industries.
Asia Pacific is yet another promising market for artificial intelligence in the military, gaining at a rapid speed on the back of the rising military spending on the technology. Additionally, a soaring number of artificial intelligence start-ups are entering the regional market, offering highly advanced AI-based systems that improve operational efficiency while facilitating process automation.
They are joining hands with the armed forces for the supply of new innovative AI-based systems, which further elevates the business growth in the region. India, with one of the biggest armies worldwide, is taking small steps in terms of adopting AI-based systems for use in surveillance and combat missions. For instance, in 2020, the Ministry of Defense (India) set up a high-level Defense AI Council that offers strategic directions for the use of AI in the military. Its key function involves guiding the collaboration between the government and the military sector for the adoption of AI type innovations.
Challenges Associated with Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence’s rising use in the military could present an ethical challenge. Organizations and experts across the globe are creating highly advanced AI-based systems and technologies that have unintentionally boosted cross-nation tensions. The ability to create mobile apps using AI is a testament to the growing impact of artificial intelligence on our world. One solid argument remains that if a particular AI-based system is unable to perform as required or intended, it could lead to devastating implications. In fact, numerous civil and human rights groups are demanding a ban on several autonomous tools in the military, particularly weaponry.
Parting Thought
Artificial intelligence along with quantum computing has the potential to alter the entire course of warfare and combat in the coming years. Military sectors worldwide are trying to leverage the booming potential of these technologies in applications like control and command, incorporating them in ground vehicles, drones, naval vessels, and fighter aircraft.The AI technology is constantly tested to assess its potential to protect harbours and hunt down submarines.
Quantum computing is progressively being used by the armies to address extremely complex challenges during wars. The technology helps deal with several issues simultaneously, offering the best course of action. Simply put, as defense budgets continue to rise and new technologies are continuously adopted to improve military operations, the artificial intelligence in military market would remain on a relentless growth trajectory in the next several years.
