Artificial Intelligence & Defense. What is at stake
Abstract
Artificial intelligence is currently a “hot topic” in defense matters. This new technology simultaneously creates fears and sets high expectations. Despite the large amount of literature written about AI and defense, it is difficult to distinguish its true impacts and estimate when they could occur. This policy paper aims to provide a comprehensive assessment, which goes beyond prejudices and misunderstandings. It underlines how AI constitutes a general-purpose technology with huge potential that could turn defense and warfare upside down. However, we must keep in mind its advantages and limits while considering its growth potential on different time scales. In addition, the military adoption of AI-based systems should not be considered a
guarantee. The integration of technology is a complex process that ultimately affects how AI would change the art of war.
About the Author
Renaud Bellais is an associate researcher in economics at ENSTA Bretagne and at CESICE, Université Grenoble Alpes. He graduated from Institut d'Études Politiques de Lille (1994), PhD in economics from Université du Littoral (1998) and accredited research director from Université Grenoble-Alpes (2004). After being lecturer at Université du Littoral, he worked at the French defense procurement agency (DGA) before joining EADS, now Airbus, and MBDA since 2017. He has teaching commitments in universities and military academies.
After decades of ups and downs, the so-called “AI winters”, AI has clearly made progress in recent years because three major obstacles have been overcome since the early 2010s: high-performing computational power, massive databases, and improved algorithms associated with machine learning
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