{"id":59767,"date":"2018-02-16T00:24:07","date_gmt":"2018-02-16T00:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/02\/16\/ai-warfare-is-coming-and-some-global-leaders-say-nato-isnt-ready\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:27:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:27:49","slug":"ai-warfare-is-coming-and-some-global-leaders-say-nato-isnt-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/munich-security-forum\/2018\/02\/16\/ai-warfare-is-coming-and-some-global-leaders-say-nato-isnt-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"AI warfare is coming, and some global leaders say NATO isn\u2019t ready"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MUNICH \u2014 The future of warfare will involve artificial intelligence systems acting as lethal weapons, and much like cyber a decade ago,<\/a> NATO allies are ill-equipped to manage the potential threat, said current and former European leaders speaking at the Munich Security Conference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kersti Kaljulaid, president of Estonia, estimated a 50 percent chance that by the middle of this century we will have an AI system capable of launching a lethal attack. And yet, just as the world was not prepared for a cyberattack when Russia first launched a cyberattack against Estonia in 2007<\/a> \u2014 bombarding websites of Estonian parliament, banks, ministries, and news outlets \u2014 there is no strategy or international law to deter such tactics of warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here for full coverage of the Munich Security Conference<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, \u201cwe need to understand the risks \u2014 what we\u2019re afraid of,<\/a>\u201d said Kaljulaid,, pointing to three: someone using AI disruptively; intelligence going widespread; and AI depleting energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight now we know we want to give systems some right of auto decision-making when it has the necessarily information to react,\u201d Kaljulaid said. But once that is accomplished, \u201cthen we have the responsibility\u201d to establish standards \u2014 the ability to apply reporting requirements to AI system, or to even shutdown systems if they are deemed threatening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The kind of standards gradually being put in place for cybersecurity \u201cneed to apply to the AI world, exactly the same way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For such standards to potentially be established for AI, there must be acceptable models of use in combat, and in conjunction with that, when there is evidence that AI is deployed outside those established boundaries, there must be a right to intervene. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And much like nuclear non-proliferation efforts, \u201cif we say that we will have the right to intervene, we have to have the right to international inspection,\u201d Kaljulaid said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the standards advocated by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former NATO secretary general, is that AI always involve human beings. There are three options, he said during the panel: humans can be in charge, always \u201cin the loop;\u201d humans can be \u201con the loop\u201d through a supervisory role, able to intervene; or humans can be \u201cout of the loop\u201d \u2013 telling the system to attack, and then leaving the rest to the machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m in favor of trying to introduce legally binding [standards] that will prevent production and use of these kinds of autonomous lethal weapons,\u201d Rasmussen said, strongly advocating for a human role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But such standards don\u2019t come fast. It took until 2017 for NATO to declare that a cyberattack would spur an Article 5 response \u2013 that being, collective defense among allies \u2014 after a massive computer hack paralyzed portions of government and businesses in Ukraine before spreading around the globe. In the meantime, much like cybersecurity, AI presents an opportunity for Russia as well as China to use \u201cgrey zones,\u201d said Rasmussen \u2013 not initiating open military conflict, but provoking allies enough to disrupt. <\/p>\n\n\n\t