The Unmanned Systems and Artificial Intelligence Revolution

Book excerpt: This book completes my unmanned systems trilogy and provides an update on the capabilities and threat potential of Unmanned Systems since my previous two books, entitled Unmanned Systems: Savior or Threat and The Importance and Vulnerabilities of U.S. Critical Infrastructure to Unmanned Systems and Cyber. The U.S. Congress and military services claim humans will control artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced autonomous weapon systems, yet they are severely mistaken. The age of autonomous warfare has already arrived, and its incorporation of AI has begun. Our strategic competitors know that AI will digest volumes of information and make decisions far faster than human beings. They have already been unleashed without a human in the loop to authorize engagements against human beings. Our world is embroiled in a technological revolution with unmanned systems and the meteoric rise of more responsive and innovative AI algorithms. These two entities are not in their infancy, for they have emerged and grown immensely in capability, potential, and threat. There is a fierce, modern-day race among countries to conduct research and development to get improved unmanned systems and AI out to military forces, governments, companies, and the general populace. By combining armed and autonomous unmanned systems with AI, we are leap-frogging humanity past science fiction movies towards real-world militarized, AI-enhanced, autonomous unmanned systems and, quite possibly, Skynet.