HOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) IS CHANGING THE METHODS OF WAR

Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed much of the spheres of everyday life. It is present in
virtually everything we do and war, of course, is no exception.

On the contrary, according to multiple international experts, at the moment, the great world
powers - USA, China, Russia, France, among others - are facing what they have called the AI arms
race.

In many ways, the history of humanity is defined by its wars. War conflicts have determined the
course of history and triggered periods of time that have been decisive for us to be what we are as
a society today. Just as the invention of gunpowder and nuclear weapons defined the wars of their
time, the applications of AI in war are presenting new — and terrifying — possibilities.

Some of the aspects in which AI can enhance the development of war are: war platforms for
military strategy, cybersecurity, logistics and arms transport and combat personnel, Objective
recognition, medical assistance in battlefields, training and combat simulations, and data
processing. All these applications sound logical and harmless, since these technological advances
can optimize the logistics of war and avoid many casualties in the war fields.

But ... does it sound to the dystopian world that films like Me, robot or Blade Runner have
presented us for years? Well pay attention, because the truth is that a future in which soldier
robots decide autonomously who to kill and who does not, is not as fictional or distant as it seems.
In fact, in a letter addressed to the 2015 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in
Buenos Aires, hundreds of thinkers - such as Stephen Hawking and Noam Chomsky - and IA
technology developers - such as Elon Musk - warned of the danger of putting in the hands of
robots the decision to take a human life, even in a warlike context.

Examples of autonomous weapons in the world

Although the prospect that there are devices that, through deep learning, can decide the fate of a
human life is chilling and presents serious ethical questions, the truth is that it is not a
novelty. Here are some examples:

• Sea Hunter, the first autonomous warship

Perhaps the clearest example of an autonomous team in the military context is the Sea Hunter, a
Trimaran warship that does not need a crew to navigate, since a new AI system is in charge of
controlling it thanks to the data it obtains from sensors , radars and cameras. This vessel is novel
because, in addition to preventing the ship from crashing, it is responsible for facing difficult
environmental conditions (such as sea currents, water depth and wind speed) while conducting
military intelligence operations.

• Sentinel robots SGR-A1

Designed by Samsung and owned by South Korea, these robots located on the border with the
northern country monitor day and night the demilitarized zone of Korea. They are equipped with a
5.5 mm K3 LMG machine gun with 1,000 rounds of ammunition, a 40 mm Mikor MGL multiple
grenade launcher, thermal imager, voice recognition technology, an IR illuminator, among other
things. Although the authorities claim that they do not operate on their own - since a soldier is
responsible for confirming the identity of the intruder before firing -, the ease of making them
autonomous is undeniable, for this reason, they have failed to dispel the concerns of multiple
organizations.

• Harop, the Israeli autonomous drone

A mix between missile and aircraft, this marauder attack system is specially designed to locate,
track and destroy static war targets with high precision. It is intended for use in maritime contexts
and can operate in the air for up to nine hours in a row. In addition, it has the ability to function
completely autonomously.