When the Teeth Eat the Tail: A Review of Canada's Defence Artificial Intelligence
Version 2 2024-06-06, 03:29
Version 1 2023-03-01, 22:45
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posted on 2024-06-06, 03:29 authored by Rob EngenRob EngenWhen the Teeth Eat the Tail: A Review of Canada's Defence Artificial Intelligence
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1-58ISSN
2749-5345eISSN
2749-5337Language
EnglishResearch statement
Background Artificial intelligence is an emerging field of high concern for defence and security organizations. It has considerable potential to become a "general purpose technology" like electricity, but is also severely overhyped. The Defence Artificial Intelligence Observatory out of Berlin commissioned a series of Country Studies to present the current state-of-the-art of approximately 25 different countries that are pursuing AI capabilities for their armed forces. These country studies are uniform in structure to allow for easy comparisons, and will allow researchers and laypeople to sift through this complicated field. Contribution "When the Teeth Eat the Tail" is my contribution to the DAIO Country Studies series, and examines the current progress (or lack thereof) of Canada in defence AI. While Canada has considerable potential in this field, its armed forces squander almost all of that potential with their shortcomings. These shortcomings are entirely cultural and organizational rather than technical. Rather than focusing on the technical dimensions of AI, my study explores the military culture of Canada and identifies several serious incompatibilities between the armed forces as an institution and their espoused commitment to transforming into a high-tech force. Significance This NTRO presents an opportunity to contrast the development of one particular capability across a large range of countries. In this context, Canada is definitely in trouble, and I assess that it is unlikely to see serious development of defence AI this decade. This will be a highly contentious piece and will likely be picked up by the Canadian media, who were consulted in the writing. The DAIO is organizing a follow-up conference for its authors in Berlin in September 2023 that they will fly me to from Australia.Publication classification
A6 Research report/technical paperPublisher
Defence Artificial Intelligence ObservatoryPlace of publication
Berlin, GermanySeries
Defence Artificial Intelligence Observatory Country Study SeriesUsage metrics
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