US Military Must Embrace AI to Stay Ahead, Says Former Army General Mark Milley

(Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) A Bell 360 Invictus model is seen at the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting's exposition hall at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on October 11, 2023, in Washington, DC. The Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting is designed to highlight the Army’s message by providing informative and relevant presentations on the state of the army, panel discussions and seminars on military and national security subjects, and networking events.

Former Army Gen. Mark Milley underlined the US military's need to adapt to artificial intelligence's rapid advancement to maintain supremacy in a changing world.

"Our military is going to have to change if we are going to continue to be superior to every other military on Earth," said Milley, as quoted by Fox News, stressing that AI is powerful and the US should embrace the technology to win future conflicts.

The former Joint Chiefs Chairman acknowledged the immense potential of AI. He predicted that within 10 to 15 years, the technology would be fully optimized for command and control of US military operations.

The former general went into further detail on the particular use of AI in the military, referring to the "OODA loop" (observe, orient, determine, act), which directs military commanders in making strategic decisions. In the past, he remarked that such decision-making required quick action. Milley also envisioned a future where AI would evaluate massive quantities of data to advise US soldiers on the best actions.

Human Commanders Still In Charge

However, the US Department of Defense insists that humans be a part of the OODA loop, and regulations state that fully autonomous weapons systems must let human commanders make decisions on whether to employ force.

According to CBS News, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks affirmed this policy, asserting, "There is always a human responsible for the use of force. Full stop." She stressed that any action, including the "Replicator" program to stop China's military buildup, must follow these standards.

Read also: UK Ministry of Defence

US Space Force Pauses AI Usage

Separately, although acknowledging the strategic potential of the technology, the US Space Force has temporarily restricted the use of several AI technologies owing to data security concerns, per Tech.co.

The company that created ChatGPT, OpenAI, is presently under fire for its data collection methods, and the US Space Force is the most recent well-known entity to voice security concerns. Since firms like Apple, Samsung, and Verizon have taken steps to limit its use among their personnel, this concern is not exclusive to the US Space Force.

However, it's noteworthy that the space service branch of the US Armed Forces has quickly embraced AI's potential. It has stated that once a strategy is developed for the "responsible and strategic" use of AI technologies, the temporary "strategic pause" in AI use will be lifted.