Designing UxS for Military Use: Harnessing AI to Provide Augmented Intelligence [video]

Abstract

One of the operational and technical challenges of fielding unmanned systems with even more autonomy is the rising cost of military manpower—one of the fastest growing military accounts—and the biggest cost driver in the total operating cost (TOC) of all military systems. Because of this, the U.S. military has sought to increase the autonomy of its unmanned systems in order to drive down TOC. As military unmanned systems have become more autonomous, concerns have surfaced regarding a potential “dark side” of having future armed autonomous or semi-autonomous systems make life-or-death decisions. Some of these concerns emerge from popular culture, such as movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Her, and Ex Machina, among others. Whether the movies are far-fetched or not isn’t the point, what is important is that the ethical concerns regarding to potential employment of armed autonomous or semi-autonomous systems are being raised in national and international media. While the DoD has issued guidance regarding operator control of autonomous vehicles, rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have exacerbated concerns that the military might lose control of armed autonomous or semi-autonomous systems. The challenge for autonomous systems designers is to provide the military not with completely autonomous systems where artificial intelligence obviates the need for humans in the loop, but with systems with augmented intelligence that provide the operator with enhanced warfighting effectiveness. The DoD can use the experience of the automotive industry and driverless cars to help design the right degree of autonomy into its systems. As testing of these vehicles has progressed, and as safety and ethical considerations have emerged, carmakers have tempered their zeal to produce completely autonomous vehicles, and have looked to produce cars with augmented intelligence to assist the driver. Harnessing AI to provide warfighters with unmanned systems with augmented intelligence—vice fully autonomous vehicles—may hold the key to overcoming the ethical concerns that currently limit the potential of military autonomous systems.