Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt says AI technology is transforming warfare and the US military needs an overhaul to keep up.
In a lengthy article in Foreign Affairs magazine, Schmidt and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark A. Milley outlined the future of a global war already unfolding on several battlefields around the world.
AI techniques are enabling Ukrainian soldiers to “destroy tanks and shoot down aircraft with devastating effectiveness,” they write. In Myanmar and Sudan, rebels and governments are turning to algorithms in battle. And in Gaza, Israel is deploying AI-enabled drones.
“Future wars will no longer be about who can muster the most troops or field the most skilled jets, ships, or tanks,” they write. “Instead, increasingly autonomous weapons systems and powerful algorithms will dominate conflict.”
But the United States, the world’s most powerful military, has not kept up with the pace of innovation, Schmidt and Milley write: The US has “not embraced artificial intelligence,” and the Pentagon doesn’t seem to be adapting to the changes quickly enough, meaning the military needs “systemic reform” because “robots and AI are here to stay.”
Schmidt is already spearheading a new company called White Stork, which is working to mass-produce drones that can use AI to identify targets and reduce the human toll of global war.
Schmidt previously served as chairman of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence for several years and was CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011.
In a recent speech at Stanford University, Schmidt said the war in Ukraine prompted him to get into the defense industry, adding that he is now a “licensed arms dealer.”
“Because of how the system works, I’m now a licensed arms dealer,” Schmidt said. “I’m a computer scientist, a businessman and an arms dealer.”
