Artificial intelligence (AI) has become the next big thing in the theater of warfare., NATO allies seek to strengthen the alliance’s collective defence and have made this a top priority.
The summit in Washington DC next week will not only mark the alliance’s 75th anniversary, but will also focus on NATO’s defence in an increasingly hostile geopolitical realm.
The global impact of the war in Ukraine has been far-reaching, widening the gap between the West and its authoritarian opponents with implications for everything from defense to trade.
Changes in AI technology are at the heart of how NATO seeks to protect itself in challenging times.
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A UJ-22 airborne reconnaissance aircraft (UkrJet) prepares to land during a test flight in the Kyiv region before being sent to the front line, August 2, 2022. (Sergey Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)
The Ukraine conflict has dramatically increased reliance on drones in kinetic warfare, spurred the AI race, and increased the need for evolution of offensive and defensive strategies.
“We should be concerned about countering Chinese and Russian AI capabilities in a wartime environment, but that concern should not be mistaken for despair,” said Mark Montgomery, a retired Navy rear admiral and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
“Just as there is reason for concern about countering Chinese and Russian kinetic energy weapons, such as hypersonic cruise missiles, the United States has the capability to build effective offensive and defensive systems to deter and, if necessary, defeat adversaries,” he added.
NATO in March more than doubled the number of its technology accelerator hubs under a program called the Defense Innovation Accelerator North Atlantic (DIANA), which works with private and public companies to develop “deep technologies” to address the alliance’s defense challenges.
DIANA will have testing sites in 28 of NATO’s 32 member states, supporting innovation in AI, cyber, 5G, hypersonics and autonomous systems across the alliance.
But the massive expansion of AI capabilities means allies are also looking to establish guardrails around the use of AI, particularly during wartime.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) is applauded by NATO allies, including British Chancellor Rishi Sunak (center) and U.S. President Biden, ahead of a NATO-Ukraine Council meeting during the NATO summit in Vilnius, July 12, 2023. (Doug Mills/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
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“There will be doctrinal discussions within NATO to ensure that Skynet doesn’t take action without human input,” Marshall Billingslea, a former NATO under-secretary-general for defence investment, told Fox News Digital.
“Drones are becoming increasingly sophisticated and inexpensive, and as artificial intelligence is deployed in drones for attack purposes, there is an increasing need for a comparable level of AI to be built into countering UAS. [unmanned aircraft systems]and theater missile defense capabilities will also be strengthened,” he said.
Billingslea said AI is already being used effectively by the US for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, but is now being expanded across NATO.
As the alliance seeks to strengthen its collective defense, its AI initiative aims not only to collect security and intelligence data from all partner nations, but also to use that information more efficiently by reducing the human burden of analysis.
Firefighters work after a drone attack on a building, October 17, 2022, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Roman Hryzyna, File)
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AI in kinetic warfare is not the only area on which NATO is growing wary.
While propaganda has long played a role in wartime, disinformation campaigns and the use of malware have become key tools in soft warfare operations that can be widely used with AI, posing major challenges in countering AI-enabled soft warfare tactics.
“What concerns me more is that AI will be used to improve malign influence operations during peacetime or during times of heightened crisis,” Montgomery said. “Both Russia and China have demonstrated a much higher level of willingness to engage in gray zone operations than the United States and its democratic allies. As a result, Chinese and Russian AI-enabled malign influence operations could have significant negative impacts.”
Dependence on the Chinese system has been around for a long time It is being debated between the US and its European allies.But Beijing’s ties with Moscow have come at a time when many European countries are cutting ties with Chinese digital infrastructure companies.
The Ukraine war has highlighted the need for NATO to protect its allies and partners, as well as non-NATO nations, particularly in Europe and the Indo-Pacific region, from the threat of AI technologies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping toast during a dinner at the Palace of Facets on March 21, 2023 in Moscow, Russia. (Pavel Birkin/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo/Associated Press)
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“NATO has to deal with a coalition of authoritarians – China, Russia, North Korea and Iran,” he said, noting that the four nations are not only standing up to the West but are also backing Russia in the Ukraine war with military and economic aid.
“In my view, Ukraine is on the front line in the fight against these four dictatorships. NATO should step up to support Ukraine,” he added.
