Canada’s defence and military are approaching the adoption and use of artificial intelligence in a “piecemeal” and uncoordinated manner, a newly developed federal strategy says.
The long-awaited outline of how to tackle rapidly evolving machine learning technologies has received mixed reviews from some tech and civil society experts who had hoped for a clearer explanation of where the country stands and how far it is ready to go.
The strategy is forthright, stating that neither the Department of National Defence (DND) nor the Canadian Armed Forces “are in a position to adopt and leverage AI.”
The report outlines the following initiatives: “It’s fragmented, with each command and environment dealing with AI separately,” with expertise spread across the organization.
“There is no roadmap for organizations to move toward effectively leveraging AI so that investments are aligned and properly managed, or to develop the capabilities, attitudes and skills to implement AI effectively, safely and responsibly,” the report states.
The document, released recently and without much fanfare, recommends following the example of allied nations and establishing an interior defense ministry center that would “serve as a center of expertise in AI and a facilitator for AI experimentation, testing, evaluation, and deployment.”
The Canadian Navy has been at the forefront of experimenting with the technology, asking the Canadian Defence Research and Development Centre more than six years ago to build an AI system that could predict mechanical failures on warships, the playbook says.
” [AI] “Although the system’s performance was not perfect and false positives occurred, early results were promising enough to justify further testing,” the document said.
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The US, its allies such as Ukraine and Israel, as well as adversaries such as Russia and China, are incorporating this technology into various elements of their military operations and planning with astonishing speed.
For example, in late 2021, the Royal Navy approached Microsoft and Amazon looking for ways to more effectively coordinate military operations, according to multiple industry publications.
Within three months, officials from the technology giants, a major UK weapons manufacturer and the Ministry of Defence received demos of the proposed AI solution. Project StormcloudAutomate tasks and flag data for intelligence analysis.
AI strategy announcement is just the beginning, say experts
Blanka Marijan, an expert at peace research institute Project Ploughshares, said she expected Canada’s strategy to be more proactive, given what allies have already learned and the actual battlefield experience of countries such as Ukraine.
AI is mentioned at least nine times in the Liberal government’s most recent defence strategy, but there appears to be a disconnect between what Ottawa says it wants to do and what it’s actually doing, she said.
“This strategy is more of an outline of what we’re thinking and considering, rather than what the potential applications of military AI might be,” Marijan said. “It’s a little bit lacking in vision in terms of what they want to do.”
Meanwhile, she says she’s pleased that Canada was one of the first countries to release an AI strategy for the military, but she says a comprehensive strategy is needed that goes beyond supporting the application of technology and acknowledges that humans will need to be decision makers on the battlefield.
Canada has advanced high-tech industries and research, and can play an important role in the international discussion about which AI systems are acceptable and where the line should be drawn.
“I think what really needs to be addressed at a national level is exactly how Canada moves forward with the application of these technologies,” Marijan said.
“I think there will be some important decisions to be made about which systems to put in place and which systems not to put in place.
“In a democratic society, we really need to know how we’re using AI to help with decision-making, especially in the defense sector. This is a situation that requires a lot more transparency and oversight that we don’t normally get.”
There are also practical considerations and questions about whether the country has the digital talent the military could tap into, Marijan said.
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Daniel Araya, a senior fellow at the Center for International Governance Innovation and a noted expert on AI, said he isn’t worried about the talent pool. Rather, he said, the military needs to rethink what kind of talent it recruits to be successful.
“That’s not to say we don’t need infantry or we don’t need people who can hold weapons,” Araya said, “but the fact is, we’re moving to automation, to augmentation. We need soldiers with different capabilities. And I think there’s room for complementary systems between the warfighter on the ground and the augmentation software developers who provide the platform that makes it all work.”
Araya said the Defense Department needs to think carefully about which private companies it partners with, and that those partnerships should include not just major U.S. technology manufacturers but also Canadian companies, “because this is about the ethics of the use of force, the ethics of the application of AI and machine learning.”
He also said the approach to integrating the technology into the military cannot be treated like standard defense procurement, saying “AI is not something that can simply be added onto existing procedures.”
Araya further said the Ministry of Defence must recognise that it is at the forefront of a revolution that will impact many aspects of life outside the military and in many ways will be a model for governance and innovation.
“It’s like electricity,” Araya said. “It’s going to be in the military, it’s going to be in healthcare, education, transportation, communications. It’s going to be everywhere. So building AI capabilities that serve the military will equip every other industry with AI capabilities.”
