Russia Expanding Fleet of AI-Enabled Weapons.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin
• Position: Algorithmic Warfare

* Russia--which has made no secret of its artificial intelligence ambitions--is building a cadre of Al-enabled, autonomous weapon systems that could one day threaten the United States.

"The Russian military seeks to be a leader in weaponizing AI technology," Lt. Gen. Michael Groen, director of the Pentagon's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, told National Defense.

The JAIC--which has been working to facilitate AI adoption across the Defense Department since 2018--recently commissioned a report by CNA, a research organization based in Arlington, Virginia, to examine Russia's developments.

The report--titled "Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy in Russia"--identified more than 150 Al-enabled military systems in various stages of development, Groen said in an email in June. Key areas of interest include autonomous air, underwater, surface and ground platforms.

The nation wants to use AI for electronic warfare, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strategic decision-making processes as leaders pursue information dominance on the battlefield, Groen said.

While Russia is not a leader in commercial and academic AI research--as the United States and China are--it would be a grave mistake for the Pentagon to take its eyes off the threat, he said.

"Russia was not a major leader in the development of the internet or computer networking, but Russia has become a leader in weaponizing those technologies for advanced cyberattacks and cybercrime capabilities," he noted.

The Russian military has taken significant steps to reform and improve the organization of its research and development enterprise, he noted. This was done in part because Moscow believed its previous structures were stifling innovation in technology areas such as AI.

The scale of these reforms--such as creating a new advanced R&D organization modeled on the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency--demonstrates the nation's seriousness about fielding an Al-enabled fighting force, he said.

Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Hyten noted that Russia has invested enormous resources into the development of artificial intelligence, big data and software technologies.

The country is moving quickly across many areas, including nuclear weapons, space and cyber, he said during remarks at the Defense Department's AI Symposium in June. Embedded in each of those elements is new software, processing and artificial intelligence systems.

"Russia is a...