On 10 October, the U.S. Army’s TRADOC G-2 Mad Scientist Initiative launched a crowdsourcing exercise to explore the possibilities and impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the future battlefield. For good reason, much has been made of AI and Machine Learning (ML) and their use in enabling lethal autonomy on the battlefield. While this is an important topic, AI’s potential application is much broader and farther reaching, enabling future warfare at machine speed and disrupting human-centered battlefield rhythms.
Using the Mad Scientist Laboratory and social media, we received submissions from approximately 115 participants from military units, Government agencies, private tech companies, academia, and a number of non-DoD/Government associated sources. These submissions were diverse and rich in depth, clarity, and quality. The content from this exercise has been distilled into two sections: 1) cross-cutting takeaways impacting every aspect of the future battlefield; and 2) highlights of ideas binned into categories supporting upcoming Army Wargames on Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance; Logistics; and Command and Control.
Mad Scientist is extremely appreciative of all the feedback and submissions received. We intend for this product to be used in future wargaming events, future horizon scanning, and the general framing of future thinking and planning for the development and use of AI systems and entities.