By Jeff G. Gilmour, 5 August 2024
As noted in a recent article in The Economist magazine, the character of warfare is about to be profoundly changed by artificial intelligence (AI).1 In Ukraine, the exponential advance of AI in that war is enabling astonishing feats of object recognition and problem solving. For example, it enables a drone to home in on targets even if GPS signals or the link to the pilot has been cut. This technology is also revolutionizing the command and control that military commanders use to orchestrate wars. 'Decision-Support Systems' are being developed, coupled with autonomous robots on land, sea and air which can now find and destroy targets at an unprecedented speed and scale. Command and control software has been developed to monitor a designated area, decide which drones should fly where, identify objects on the ground and suggest which weapons to deploy to strike which targets.
In Ukraine, the transformation of naval warfare by drones, driven in part by AI, is already underway. Many senior naval officers already argue that waters off North America will likely soon to be patrolled by remotely operated boats and submersibles whose surveillance of the coastline will be coordinated by AI technology.2 Such events are already underway in the Middle East.
There are however problems for Canada’s military in instituting AI technology. A new DND strategy is candid in saying neither DND or the CAF is “positioned to adopt and take advantage of AI.“3. The report described the current initiatives as “fragmented, with each command and environment addressing AI independently and expertise scattered throughout the institutions. No roadmap exists to move the organization toward leveraging AI effectively to ensure that investments are co-ordinated and appropriately governed, or to develop the capabilities, attitude and skills to implement AI effectively,safely and responsively.” This is something that should be addressed.
FOOTNOTES
1 The Economist, “War and AI,” 22 June 2024.
2 CBC News, Murray Brewster, ”Drones and AI are rewriting the Rulebook on naval warfare - with uncertain consequences,” 9 May 2024.
3 CBC News, Murray Brewster, ”New DND Strategy warns Canadian military’s approach to AI, 'fragmented,'" 29 July 2024.
One thought on “The Use of AI by Canada’s Armed Forces”
Hello Jeff. You are spot on with regard to the tactical use of AI in Canada and could not agree more. Countries like Ukraine, the US, UK, Australia and others are out-performing Canada in many ways and we seem to be far behind the eight ball, as usual, with the military use of AI. We must quickly adapt to an overall AI strategy and create a much more comprehensive AI policy and develop the attitude and skills to implement and coordinate Canadian AI development with our allied partners soon!