"Whoever becomes the leader in the field of artificial intelligence will be the master of the world." These prophetic words of Russian President Vladimir Putin, spoken by him in September 2017, find more and more confirmation with each new day. The major military powers of the world have long recognized that robots and modern data processing systems will depend on their power in the future. Therefore, in the field of artificial intelligence, a serious struggle flares up, comparable to large-scale efforts to create a nuclear bomb and develop stealth technologies.
Unspoken leader
A distinctive feature of the current race is the versatility of its results. Artificial intelligence technologies are equally useful for both military and civilian needs. After all, for unmanned programs it doesn't matter whether you drive a bus or a tank.
Thanks to this practicality of development, the United States held the leadership in this area quite firmly. Hard workers in Silicon Valley and programmers in giant American corporations contribute to this every day. There is no need to go far for an example of a “double game”: in early March, Gizmodo reported that Google had signed a contract with the US Department of Defense to develop an algorithm that would analyze images from drones.
Washington also has more ambitious plans. The Pentagon has been working on a Third Counterbalance strategy since 2014, which, according to Wired Magazine, will give the United States a significant advantage over its adversaries through the use of weapons with intelligent software. The term "counterweight" itself is officially used by the Americans to characterize the capabilities of the military from the United States in comparison with the forces of opponents. In this case, the emphasis is on technological superiority, which should compensate for quantitative inferiority.
The main component of the "Third Counterbalance" is the formation of a long-term research program, which, presumably, will focus on such promising areas as robotics, autonomous systems and miniaturization. Part of the strategy is to improve collaboration between the US military and innovative private sector enterprises.
In the near future, such interaction may result in the emergence of unmanned aircraft and submarines. And, for example, analysts at Work and Govini, according to CNN, in their report talk about the F-35 fighter as an already existing example of the use of artificial intelligence.
Promotional video:
Information about American technological plans and developments has repeatedly appeared in the media. Thus, according to The National Interest, the United States is implementing a program to create Consolidated Floating Networks. We are talking about the transfer of functions for managing the fleet to artificial intelligence. In the near future, the Americans are planning to launch a coastal zone warship, which, using a neural network, will be able to connect to other ships, including submarines and aircraft carriers.
In addition, in December last year, CNN published an article that the United States at the end of 2017 first began to use elements of artificial intelligence in military operations against terrorists of the Islamic State group banned in Russia. They were used to monitor reconnaissance footage from drones. The experiment was carried out within the framework of the Maven project - the same one that Google and the US Department of Defense agreed to develop.
Its counterweight
However, Russia also has something to oppose to the United States, despite the obvious difference in the technological base. According to the acknowledgment of the Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Ruslan Tsalikov, which he made on March 15, artificial intelligence in the Russian Armed Forces is used almost everywhere. For example, certain elements of the technology are used in robotics and unmanned systems.
On the same day, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the serial production of combat robots in the country could begin as early as 2018. Moreover, the latest Russian vehicles have already gained combat experience in Syria. There, in particular, the Uran-9 combat robot was involved, and the Uran-6 robot-spur took part in the demining of Palmyra. Russia has its own robotic firefighter - Uran-14.
The Russian army has already been replenished with robotic systems based on the M platform and the Argo platform. Robots "Nerekhta" and "Avatar" are actively being finalized.
A significant step has also been taken towards increasing the UAV fleet. According to Shoigu, if a few years ago there were only 160 drones in the RF Armed Forces, now there are almost 1.8 thousand. And on March 1, during his Address to the Federal Assembly, Vladimir Putin said that unmanned underwater vehicles were also developed in Russia. According to the president, they are capable of moving at great depths and at an intercontinental range. Their speed is several times higher than the speed of the most modern submarines, torpedoes and all types of surface ships. “This is just fantastic,” the head of state admired, adding that unmanned submarines have low noise and great maneuverability, which is why they are practically invulnerable. And the means that can resist them do not exist in the world today, Putin concluded.
So Russia has every chance not only to keep up with the race in the field of artificial intelligence, but also to be one step ahead. Fortunately, the country has retained a strong academic tradition in science, which compensates for the still insufficient size of the technological industry. And Russian successes, the Russian authorities have repeatedly assured, can only make the world safer.
Ivan Roschepiy
