Bloomberg: US uses artificial intelligence to 'target' airstrikes

If you have ever wondered when the military will start deploying artificial intelligence on the battlefield, here is the answer.

Bloomberg writes that the US is already using computer vision algorithms to identify precise targets for bombing. Recently, the technology was used for more than 85 airstrikes in a mission in the Middle East.

The explosions heard in some parts of Iraq and Syria on February 2 "destroyed or damaged rockets, a drone storage facility, and operational centers among other targets" and were part of a planned response by the Biden administration to a January drone attack in Jordan that killed three US service members. The government blamed militants supported by Iran for the attack.

"We used computer vision to determine where threats could be," said Skyler Moore, chief technical officer of US Central Command.

The computer vision algorithms used during the aforementioned airstrikes were developed as part of Project Maven - a program launched back in 2017 to promote automation in the Department of Defense.

The use of AI to identify targets seems to have already become a trend - but one that is somewhat alarming. Last year, it was reported that Israel was using similar technology to determine targets for bomb drops in Gaza. According to officials from the country, the Israeli program can identify up to 200 targets in just 10-12 days.

"On October 7, everything changed. We immediately switched to a much higher operational tempo than before," said Moore, adding that US forces were able to "smoothly transition" to using Maven after a year of digital training.

At the same time, Moore noted that every step proposed by artificial intelligence is still checked by humans.