Putting AI into Air: What is Artificial Intelligence and What it Might Mean for the Air Environment

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is heralded by some as the next Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA), a technology with the potential to offer decisive strategic advantage and revolutionise military tactics and force structures. Development of AI within the commercial sector continues at a galloping and, in some ways, alarming pace, and the academic community 1 has begun to consider the role AI could play within Air Power. This article begins with a brief history of AI, discussing some recent developments in the field and highlighting why there is currently so much excitement around the subject. We also discuss how our understanding of human sensory and cognitive processing limitations advocate a strong need for AI in the form of augmentation and decision support systems in several settings, whilst highlighting unique human abilities to adapt to and process information in different ways (that an AI currently cannot achieve). Based upon the areas where we believe AI will offer an edge to a human operator in the future, we propose a framework for assessing the key attributes of AI and discuss some of the implications for air warfare in the future.