There is a new player on the field, which is a game changer for many users, yet for some, it may be the beginning of the end. Independently of your point of view, the truth is that AI has brought good and bad news for everyone, but how these technologies are used, only depends on us.
Artificial intelligence has been around for many years, and it’s older than you may think. Over the past 70 years, we have made significant progress in AI technology, and now we can witness the amazing but also scary things that AI is capable of doing. Thanks to giant tech companies, users can see for themselves what the future looks like. For instance, chatbots like ChatGPT have introduced new ways of making everyday tasks easier. They can help you make a shopping list, investigate biology, or provide instructions to build a Lego house. Additionally, there are image generators like Dall-e that can create astonishing images in a matter of seconds, from a flying cow to an undiscovered land, the possibilities are endless.
The rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has raised concerns about its role in the military. With machines learning and trying to behave like human brains, the military is building autonomous robots to carry out missions and avoid risking human lives. However, as with any innovation, this development raises many questions because it goes beyond the fact of asking a robot simple questions, such as whether machines should be able to decide who lives or dies in a military mission. It also begs the question of whether future wars will be fought by robots, what laws will be created to regulate AI usage, and how machines will imitate human judgment in a war scenario. The International Committee of the Red Cross said that autonomous weapons, including the ones using AI, could lead to unintended casualties. These are crucial ethical concerns that must be considered as they continue to develop AI for military use. Although these technologies have made significant progress, they are still not revolutionary. They are currently being employed in finance, logistics, and maintenance to enhance the military system in various ways. However, we must also start pondering some important questions as the ones mentioned before.
When individuals decide to join the armed forces, they undergo rigorous training, both physically and psychologically, to prepare themselves for challenging situations. This training helps them to shape their character, strengthen their mind, and develop their ethics to make important decisions in the future that can be the difference between life and death, or the destiny of a country. Besides that, there will always be human factors involved in military missions such as leadership, ethical thinking, and the preservation of human dignity. These factors cannot be written in code and are crucial in ensuring successful missions.
It is important to note that currently, no Artificial Intelligence system can replicate human cognitive thinking. In simpler terms, AI cannot reason like humans and can only process information based on predetermined code. From my point of view, this limitation is actually beneficial because if AI could reason like humans, the Armed forces of many countries would be led by AI for sure, and this is a future that nobody wants to see but is better to be prepared for when this happens.
This is a significant challenge for technology companies. Undoubtedly, this will be a key moment in military history, much like the introduction of planes in World War II or the beginning of semiautomatic weapons. It’s hard to predict what the future armed forces will look like, maybe soldiers won’t need all the training they receive, and maybe private and public security services won’t be managed totally by humans. Whatever the future is, we have to remain well-informed and use AI responsibly.
