Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the Department of the Air Force is committed to building and deploying artificial intelligence to help address security challenges posed by adversaries and is working to find out how to hold people accountable when it comes to AI applications.
“The way we should approach is to figure out how to apply the laws of armed conflict to the applications of AI. Who do we hold responsible for the performance of that AI and what do we require institutions to do before we field these kinds of capabilities and use them operationally,” Kendall, a four-time Wash100 awardee, said during a panel discussion at a forum on Saturday.
He discussed the need for the government to thoroughly understand how AI works and find creative ways to help industry develop AI applications and ensure the ethical and reliable use of AI systems by warfighters.
The secretary emphasized that time is a key parameter on the battlefield.
“The AI will be able to do much more complicated things much more accurately and much faster than human beings can. If the human is in the loop, you will lose. You can have human supervision and watch over what the AI is doing, but if you try to intervene you are going to lose,” Kendall told the audience.
“The difference in how long it takes a person to do something and how long it takes the AI to do something is the key difference,” he added.
Register here to attend the Potomac Officers Club’s 5th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit on March 21 and hear federal leaders and industry experts discuss the latest developments in the field.
