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vessels by applying machine learn- to spur increased funding for new military operations in all domains. In
ing to drone imagery. In May 2021, digital technologies. With militaries the naval domain, further advances
Google and Amazon jointly won a keen on using AI to expand the in technology will provide navies
US $1.3 billion deal to supply cloud use of unmanned systems during superior operational capabilities,
services to the Israeli government conflicts, companies are working on increased efficiency, and enhanced
and its defence agencies. developing fleets of autonomous safety. Navies are currently using
aerial, maritime, and terrestrial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs),
In December 2022, the U.S. drones for transportation, surveil- unmanned surface vessels (USVs),
Department of Defense (DoD) lance, and combat. AI and other and unmanned underwater vehicles
awarded contracts worth a total of new age technologies are also (UUVs) equipped with AI capa-
US $9 billion to Google, Amazon, facilitating the use of drone swarms, bilities to perform tasks such as
Microsoft, and Oracle for the both as a deterrent and for offense. surveillance, reconnaissance, mine
Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability detection, and anti-submarine war-
(JWCC) project. A cloud net- fare. While being cost effective, the
work, JWCC will serve all military A Growing Market unmanned platforms also limit the
branches and will modernize the Militaries are using AI for purposes loss of human life in conflict. Navies
DoD’s IT infrastructure. The con- such as surveillance, reconnais- also use AI systems to streamline
tract is expected to run through sance, threat detection, data maintenance operations of naval
mid-2028. According to reports, analysis, logistics, and cyberse- vessels by employing predictive
Pentagon currently has more than curity. During recent and ongoing maintenance and condition-based
800 active military AI projects.
conflicts, AI has helped militaries monitoring techniques. AI-powered
to process information from satel- cybersecurity solutions are being
Irreversible Trend lite images and drone video feeds deployed to counter emerging cyber
faster, ensuring faster decisions threats, thus protecting critical
With Russia and China in the fore- as well as more accurate and infrastructure and safeguarding
front of cyberwarfare and intent on quicker targeting of the adversary. sensitive data.
using AI and other technologies to With developments in AI and the
gain an edge over the U.S. and its increasing focus of militaries on A Question of Ethics
allies, one can expect future military autonomous systems acting as
funding across the globe to be more major catalysts, the AI in Military The most controversial use of AI is
evenly distributed among major Market is projected to grow from for the development of fully auton-
defence contractors, established USD 8.0 billion in 2023 to USD omous weapons that can find and
tech companies, and startups. The 24.7 billion by 2032. Much of the attack targets on their own in a
ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, growth is expected to be driven battlefield with human intervention.
which has been dubbed an “AI by countries such as the United Some countries have voluntarily
War Lab,” has seen companies like States, European nations, China adopted policies that set limits on
Palantir and ClearviewAI become and Russia, all of which are invest- how AI and lethal autonomous
pivotal actors on the battlefield, ing heavily in AI research and weapons will be used, and there is
providing data analytics for drone development for defence pur- presume mounting on militaries to
strikes and surveillance. poses. China’s 2019 white paper ensure the responsible use of AI
The military’s shift towards AI and on national defence advocated the and autonomy in warfare.
data driven warfare seems irrevers- theory of “intelligentized warfare,” The lack of an international gov-
ible. According to U.S. Director of in which leveraging AI is key to the ernance framework for military
the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure modernization plans of the People’s AI poses risks to global security,
Security Agency Jen Easterly, AI Liberation Army. Keen on arresting says Raluca Csernatoni, Fellow,
may be both the most “powerful China in its AI tracks, the U.S. has Carnegie Europe. “Governments
capability of our time” and the “most tried to curb the country’s access to worldwide are competing for
powerful weapon of our time.” advanced semiconductors that are leadership in emerging and dis-
Defence analysts expect ongoing of key importance for AI models. ruptive technologies (EDTs) and
conflicts to act as a catalyst for the grappling with the profound and
introduction of more new-age tech- transformative implications of AI.
nologies in the military sector. AI in the Naval Domain Meanwhile, corporate tech players

The deployment of drones and Use in Developments in AI have have joined a trillion-dollar arms
AI-enabled weapon systems in played a major role in the devel- race in generative AI, jockeying
Ukraine and Gaza, and their effec- opment of autonomous and for venture capital investment in
foundation models,” she adds..
tiveness in the battlefield, is likely unmanned systems, revolutionizing
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