On his way home after the Munich Security Conference last week, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis speculated that artificial intelligence could change the “fundamental nature of war.” The security conference gave the impression that no one is truly prepared for that change.
“I’m certainly questioning my original premise that the fundamental nature of war will not change. You’ve got to question that now. I just don’t have the answers yet,” Mattis repliedwhen asked about the impact of A.I.
The famously well-read defense secretary took pains to distinguish between the character of warfare and its fundamental nature. He quoted Carl von Clausewitz to the effect that warfare is a “chameleon” that “changes to adapt to its time, to the technology, to the terrain,” but noted that was a reference to the character of warfare, not its deeper nature.
We went from cavalry charges to atomic bombs over the span of four decades in the last century, with social ramifications as profound as the implications for military strategy. Mattis, who consults with a team of Silicon Valley experts on cyber issues, would not lightly propose that the 21st Century could bring equally massive changes.
AAN Staff
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