The Age of AI Warfare
With the increased use of artificial intelligence in warfare, countries such as India must stocktake and prepare for defence safety and autonomy
Boots on the ground may soon be a thing of the past. The current war scenario proves it. Advanced defence systems comprising precision weapons such as swarm drones, cruise missiles, and stealth bombers are causing massive devastation and destruction. But the actual number of soldiers across enemy lines is negligible. An evolutionary shift from the days of thousands of armed personnel storming borders and stockpiling defence equipment. And now aiding the new-age war is artificial intelligence (AI). The ongoing Israel-US war on Iran exemplifies AI killing machines, highlighting the urgent need for caution and preparation.
As per revelations, Anthropic’s Claude, after being used in Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela, has been actively used in the strikes on Iran. According to a New York-based security research non-profit firm, Soufan Center, Operation Epic Fury has used the large language model (LLM) for battlefield simulations even after its ban due to emerging ethical fault lines. Operated through a possible embedding within Department of Defense’s Palantir platforms, Claude sharpened US attacks and helped with planning and support, purportedly orchestrating attacks on over 1,000 targets in 24 hours. Another contract has been signed between OpenAI and the Department of War (DoW) for future conflict situations. These are in clear contravention of pledges taken by Big Tech and also spotlight the existing lacuna around global regulation and policy regarding the weaponisation of AI.
War and strife have largely metamorphosed today. It’s no longer about human bravery or courage but rather of advanced defence systems facing off against competing state-of-the-art war tools. It’s essentially tech versus tech. Military AI has been in use for a while now; it’s only becoming more sophisticated and lethal now. The fear of AI learning from these calamitous scenarios and developing into autonomous, murderous programs as it gains superintelligence is also not entirely far-fetched anymore. The way AI learns and adapts, paints a near-future diegesis that’s more real than sci-fi. And while that’s a guaranteed occurrence if there are no guardrails, the immediate warning is coming to nations like ours to review our defence systems, both for safety and autarchy. Since India is reliant mostly on foreign LLMs, our risks run high. India must on war-footing protect its data privacy and supply chains while ensuring strong cyber defence, autonomous systems, and strategic sovereignty.
And what of humans? Like in all sectors, even human jobs within defence can be usurped by AI that’s able to analyse and strategise within seconds what would take human counterparts hours or even days. Though defence experts argue (or hope against hope) that human judgement will continue to be relevant. The speed of AI, however, runs the very plausible risk of making several, if not all humans, redundant.
Companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI claim to have internal bibles to prevent crossing of lines. But who governs the use or misuse of powerful AI? How do we even define the ethics around it? Can companies refuse their governments? And what of subterfuge and skulduggery? Today, groups such as the United Nations (UN) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) are a shadow of their former influential selves. The stage is set for a global agreement on disarmament stipulations for the use of AI in war. Would megalomaniacs and dictators adhere to these rules? The diplomatic challenge is real but then a modern world begets novel problems — and this will be the test for current dispensations around the world.
Views expressed are personal. The writer is an author and media entrepreneur
