4.4 Classified AI applications

AI in Defense and Intelligence

Leading defense departments and intelligence agencies typically have the ability to access undisclosed amounts of public money, pioneering academic research minds and programs, and can financially direct the secret development of customized cutting-edge technologies. 

It is well known that military and intelligence agencies have historically been behind the invention and early adoption of many new initially secret technologies which later enter public mainstream use. An example is the Global Positioning System which was originally a maverick development in the 1970’s within the US Air Force, and saw public use unusually quickly in the 1980’s for global clock synchronization, followed by extensive use in the early 1990’s US-Iraq war.

Military and intelligence agencies have access to significantly more advanced Computing Capabilities than the general public, and this will be primarily because of their ability to fund, direct, and access the development of uniquely specialized computer processor designs and massive computing infrastructure.

Advanced Technologies are threats to National Security

For example, commercial processor manufacturing companies have traditionally supplied what is know as serial pipeline Von Neumann architecture processors for use by the general public in desktop computers and global datacenters. However, for more than a decade there have been some commercial processor manufacturing companies supplying far more specialized, massively parallel Harvard architecture processors, and adabiatic Quantum processors for use by defense, intelligence, and the military industrial complex. More publicly, some global organisations have been able to commercially purchase D-Wave’s quantum computers, D-Wave One & D-Wave Two, and have personnel trained in their use, however the customer list appears to be very well-controlled due to potential security risks. Eg. Potentially some 512 bit encryption algorithms can be rapidly defeated.

The National Security threats posed by advanced computer processor technologies are very real. On 21 December 2022, President Biden signed into law H.R. 7535, the Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act, which encourages “federal government agencies to adopt technology that will protect against quantum computing attacks.”

The Computing Capabilities of more exotic processing technologies are orders of magnitude greater than any commercially available processors available to the public. This control of access is an important differentiation because the Capabilities of AI are fundamentally constrained by the raw limits in access to unified Computational power that can be directly applied to any application, including AI error optimization and associated speed of learning.

Early Defense and Intelligence applications of AI

There are many examples of military and intelligence agencies using AI and related technologies in their operations. For instance, AI assisted drones are being used by military operations around the world for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) information processing, as well as for high precision guided weapon strikes. 

Intelligence agencies also use AI for tasks such as analyzing vast volumes of imagery data flowing from satellites and military drones, identifying potential adversarial threats, and monitoring social media for signs of civil unrest.

However, the extent to which military and intelligence agencies have a significant advantage in AI Capabilities when compared to the general public is legally classified, secret, compartmentalized, and most of their work is guarded by secrecy laws within and between various nations, with extremely severe penalties for any breach. 

It is possible that some AI technologies developed for military and intelligence use may eventually find their way into civilian applications, but this technology exfiltration process typically takes many decades, and some potentially highly dangerous technologies such and nuclear, biological, and chemical, will never be intentionally released for use by the general public.