8 ms·

US Military pulls the trigger, uses AI to target air strikes

63 points by cannibalXxx 3y ago

Decabytes 3y ago
Rafael has been demoing SPICE (Smart, Precise Impact, Cost-Effective) bombs since 2019^1 > The newly-unveiled ATR feature is a technological breakthrough, enabling SPICE-250 to effectively learn the specific target characteristics ahead of the strike, using advanced AI and deep-learning technologies. 1. https://www.rafael.co.il/press/elementor-4174/ https://www.rafael.co.il/press/elementor-4174/
aaroninsf 3y ago
Tired: the trolley problem Wired: ... Expired: ...
GarvielLoken 3y ago
"Moore said. The US Central Command has also tried to run an AI recommendation engine to see if it could suggest the best weapons to use in operations and create attack plans. The technology, however, "frequently fell short."" Are they using LLM for this as well? Then of coruse it's going to be hard. I don't understand why many working with AI refuses to use an AI that's good for this. CSP solvers! There are some papers about using them for drone making flight paths.
mdhb 3y ago
There’s obviously a limit to how much detail you can fit into a headline but just to be clear this is using pattern matching across various sensors to develop a list of things matching a particular signature which is then sent to a human for review long before anyone even thinks about pulling and triggers. If anyone is looking for a serious dive into this topic I’d highly recommend starting here https://youtu.be/1-0L5Wv86fQ https://youtu.be/1-0L5Wv86fQ?
- throwaway118899 3y ago
  Nonsense. The core of an article can always fit in a headline. Journalists and their editors know what they’re doing. Alternative: “US military pulls the trigger, implements AI-assisted pattern matching for military target acquisition” I even kept their “pulls trigger” pun.
- sschueller 3y ago
  How much less care will be taken by the human reviewers knowing that an AI picked the target? There is a bias there in the back of a mind and when you get into a stressful situation you are more likely to trust that the "system" didn't make a mistake. How many times have you pushed to production skipping the final review because all tests passed anyway only for it to fail?
  - bandyaboot 3y ago
    If I were reviewing AI written code that passes all tests vs reviewing human written code that passes all tests, I think I’d trust the human written code more.
  - spywaregorilla 3y ago
    I knew a guy who was in charge of approving strikes in iraq. His job was assessing the second order impacts of a strike beyond whether or not it was targeting what they believed. I'm not saying iraq wasn't a shit show, but for what it's worth, this stuff is very carefully reviewed and is not done quickly.
    - sschueller 3y ago
      Yet the Unites States bombed a Médecins Sans Frontières hospital killing 42 by mistake according to their own non-independent investigation.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_hospital_airstrike https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_hospital_airstrike
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
      - spywaregorilla 3y ago
        This is tragic but it's noteworthy because it is NOT the norm. Unlike, say, what's going on in Ukraine with frequent missile strikes into arbitrary civilian areas. This is a serious failure of controls that warranted direct attention and the apology of the president. imo this is moreso evidence that the US takes its controls seriously rather than frivolously.
ChrisArchitect 3y ago
[dupe] More discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39531348 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39531348
zcw100 3y ago
This is so self aggrandizing for the AI community. The military has tanks, guns, ships, cruse missiles, satellites, and nuclear weapons capable of ending life on earth but now we're supposed to tremble at the might of AI that is doing the equivalent of "hotdog or not"?
- whelp_24 3y ago
  If the ai can get hotdog wrong sometimes, shouldn't you be extremely concerned that the military is using to kill people and destroy things. I feel like "hospital or not" is a much more dangerous game.
  - kjkjadksj 3y ago
    The military already plays hot dog or not except they use a 19 year old with a grainy FLIR display to make that judgement today, with the end result being a ridiculous amount of civilian casualties in all modern conflicts. The AI model here can’t come soon enough imo.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

63 points by cannibalXxx 3y ago

Rafael has been demoing SPICE (Smart, Precise Impact, Cost-Effective) bombs since 2019^1 > The newly-unveiled ATR feature is a technological breakthrough, enabling SPICE-250 to effectively learn the specific target characteristics ahead of the strike, using advanced AI and deep-learning technologies. 1. https://www.rafael.co.il/press/elementor-4174/ https://www.rafael.co.il/press/elementor-4174/

aaroninsf 3y ago

Tired: the trolley problem Wired: ... Expired: ...

GarvielLoken 3y ago

"Moore said. The US Central Command has also tried to run an AI recommendation engine to see if it could suggest the best weapons to use in operations and create attack plans. The technology, however, "frequently fell short."" Are they using LLM for this as well? Then of coruse it's going to be hard. I don't understand why many working with AI refuses to use an AI that's good for this. CSP solvers! There are some papers about using them for drone making flight paths.

mdhb 3y ago

There’s obviously a limit to how much detail you can fit into a headline but just to be clear this is using pattern matching across various sensors to develop a list of things matching a particular signature which is then sent to a human for review long before anyone even thinks about pulling and triggers. If anyone is looking for a serious dive into this topic I’d highly recommend starting here https://youtu.be/1-0L5Wv86fQ https://youtu.be/1-0L5Wv86fQ?

throwaway118899 3y ago
Nonsense. The core of an article can always fit in a headline. Journalists and their editors know what they’re doing. Alternative: “US military pulls the trigger, implements AI-assisted pattern matching for military target acquisition” I even kept their “pulls trigger” pun.
sschueller 3y ago
How much less care will be taken by the human reviewers knowing that an AI picked the target? There is a bias there in the back of a mind and when you get into a stressful situation you are more likely to trust that the "system" didn't make a mistake. How many times have you pushed to production skipping the final review because all tests passed anyway only for it to fail?
- bandyaboot 3y ago
  If I were reviewing AI written code that passes all tests vs reviewing human written code that passes all tests, I think I’d trust the human written code more.
- spywaregorilla 3y ago
  I knew a guy who was in charge of approving strikes in iraq. His job was assessing the second order impacts of a strike beyond whether or not it was targeting what they believed. I'm not saying iraq wasn't a shit show, but for what it's worth, this stuff is very carefully reviewed and is not done quickly.
  - sschueller 3y ago
    Yet the Unites States bombed a Médecins Sans Frontières hospital killing 42 by mistake according to their own non-independent investigation.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_hospital_airstrike https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_hospital_airstrike
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - spywaregorilla 3y ago
      This is tragic but it's noteworthy because it is NOT the norm. Unlike, say, what's going on in Ukraine with frequent missile strikes into arbitrary civilian areas. This is a serious failure of controls that warranted direct attention and the apology of the president. imo this is moreso evidence that the US takes its controls seriously rather than frivolously.

ChrisArchitect 3y ago

[dupe] More discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39531348 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39531348

zcw100 3y ago

This is so self aggrandizing for the AI community. The military has tanks, guns, ships, cruse missiles, satellites, and nuclear weapons capable of ending life on earth but now we're supposed to tremble at the might of AI that is doing the equivalent of "hotdog or not"?

whelp_24 3y ago
If the ai can get hotdog wrong sometimes, shouldn't you be extremely concerned that the military is using to kill people and destroy things. I feel like "hospital or not" is a much more dangerous game.
- kjkjadksj 3y ago
  The military already plays hot dog or not except they use a 19 year old with a grainy FLIR display to make that judgement today, with the end result being a ridiculous amount of civilian casualties in all modern conflicts. The AI model here can’t come soon enough imo.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]