Guest Lecture
Al Brown (Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute)
Warbots - a View from the Trenches
Abstract
“Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind.” .. “Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.” Vladimir Putin
Robotics and artificial intelligence are already being employed in conflict. However, artificial intelligence manages to sit at the peak of ‘inflated expectations’ on Gartner’s technology hype curve whilst simultaneously being underestimated in other assessments. Artificial intelligence and robotics are technologies without a monopoly. Almost anyone can take emerging advances in these technologies and apply them to conflict. And they are. But which adaptations are successfully exploited is governed by hard scientific facts and the gritty realities of employment in the field.
So, what are the likely effects on conflict of the trends in artificial intelligence, robotics, economics, data and society? And what do people commonly get wrong - often with total certainty? This talk will take you through what is and is not likely to change in warfare, and what has already changed in conflict.
Al Brown is an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. Al is a former Research Fellow at Oxford University and Chief of the General Staff Scholar researching perception, information integration, and optimisation for competitive advantage in biological, digital, and organisational systems. Al was previously the lead for UK Defence on the study of global strategic trends in robotics and artificial intelligence and its impacts on conflict. He authored a short book on this and has been one of the Group of Government Experts providing advice to and speaking at the United Nations. He writes and has often lectured on related subjects at the Alan Turing Institute, the Royal United Services Institute, Oxford University, UCL, and Cranfield University. Al is also a former Army Officer. He commanded a bomb disposal and high-risk search Regiment, led the Counter-IED Squadron in Helmand, and has deployed on operational tours in Afghanistan and the Balkans.
|
|
|
|
|
Peterhouse College, Cambridge, the venue for AI-2025
|
|
