While artificial intelligence has continued to revolutionize many industries in recent years, a similar transformation is taking place in the military. NATO’s Strategic Transformation Commander Admiral Pierre Vandier, held in Paris At the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit In his statement, he emphasized that artificial intelligence accelerates military decision-making processes and that armed forces that cannot keep up with this speed run the risk of falling behind. This statement once again revealed the rapidly changing dynamics of modern warfare and the role of artificial intelligence in military strategies.
Artificial Intelligence and Military Decision Making Processes
Admiral Vandier noted that NATO is using military AI in its decision-making cycle, and that this has a major impact on operational speed. Analyses that used to take hours or even days can now be completed in seconds. This speed plays a critical role, especially when processing large amounts of sensor data. In Vandier’s words, “If you don’t adapt to speed and scale, you die.” The importance of this speed is also evident in the conflicts in Ukraine. Modern wars have a much faster pace, and those who cannot keep up with this pace are left out of the war.
AI’s ability to accelerate military operations and make strategic decisions much faster significantly increases NATO’s power. This also requires adversaries to adapt quickly. Vandier described the acceleration in AI’s decision-making speed as “a huge acceleration” and said it could change the course of war.
Global Competition: USA, China and Europe
Major powers have identified AI as a key enabler for future wars. While the US is investing billions of dollars in defense, China is also pushing for hardware access to control the technology. In Europe, France has set its sights on becoming a leader in military AI. France’s commitment to this area is likely to play a major role in NATO’s future military strategies. AI has the potential to not only speed up operations but also transform strategic decision-making.
Autonomous Weapon Systems and Ethical Issues
At the Paris summit, the signing of a declaration by 25 countries regarding the use of autonomous weapons systems that operate completely outside of human control brought the ethical dimension of artificial intelligence to the agenda. These countries agreed that life and death decisions should not be left to completely autonomous systems. However, some countries left the role of autonomous weapons systems in future wars open to discussion by not signing this declaration. The place of artificial intelligence in military strategies is becoming not only a technological but also an ethical and legal area of discussion.
Human Factors and Artificial Intelligence: Challenges for the Future
While AI is an important tool for increasing the speed of military operations, human factor continues to play a critical role. Jeroen van der Vlugt of the Dutch Ministry of Defence said the speed of AI raises questions about whether human involvement in decision-making processes will improve quality. AI can analyze vast amounts of data in milliseconds, but it is important that this data is interpreted correctly and decisions are made ethically.
Admiral Vandier emphasized that artificial intelligence does not completely replace human decisions, but rather enables faster and more accurate decisions to be made. “Artificial intelligence is not a magic wand,” said Vandier, adding that while it cannot solve war itself, it does offer more lethal and accurate solutions. At this point, how far technology should advance and the limits of human intervention will be an important topic of discussion in future military strategies.
The Speed of Technology and Educational Challenges
Artificial intelligence technology is advancing so rapidly that it may be inevitable that managers and soldiers who do not advance at this pace will be left behind. Admiral Vandier, at Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia He stated that they are trying to keep up with the pace of technology with the monthly learning packages they have launched for their staff. These trainings are organized to ensure that senior managers have more information about artificial intelligence.
CSIS Director Gregory AllenHe stated that large language models are getting better by a factor of 13 every year and that this development is not expected to stop. These developments will revolutionize national security strategies and countries' investments in artificial intelligence in the field of defense will shape future war strategies.
A New Military Era with Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence has the potential to create a major transformation in the military field. Rapid analysis and decision-making processes can significantly change the course of future wars. However, determining the ethical, legal and strategic limits of this power provided by technology will be one of the main elements that will shape future wars. NATO and other major powers will continue to develop their military strategies by using this technology effectively, but it will be of great importance not to forget the human factor and ethical limits in this process.
