Military Applications of ChatGPT

Has become popular worldwide. It is the fastest growing consumer application in history, with an estimated 100 million active users per month, just two months after its release.

ChatGPT has sparked great interest and controversy in industries such as education, entertainment, news, manufacturing, technology, and art. The underlying natural language model and technology supporting ChatGPT have the potential to revolutionize AI on the battlefield. As reported by C4ISRNET recently, generative AI technologies like ChatGPT have been added to the technology watch list of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) of the U.S. Department of Defense. On February 8, the Department of Defense used ChatGPT to write an article about the establishment of a new anti-drone task force.

Artificial intelligence is playing a role at various levels of the defense industry. The U.S. and its allies are in an AI arms race, with the Department of Defense’s third offset strategy stating that “the rapid development of artificial intelligence, along with robotics, autonomy, big data, and enhanced collaboration with industry, will define the next generation of warfare.”

The Role of ChatGPT: Enhancing Military Intelligence and Decision-Making

ChatGPT is a transformer-based AI language model that has been trained on a vast dataset of text from the internet, enabling it to generate human-like text. This unique capability makes it an ideal tool for military applications, such as generating realistic scenarios, simulating conversations between entities, and providing intelligence insights. With ChatGPT’s ability to understand, respond, and interact with humans, it has the potential to significantly improve military intelligence and decision-making.

The Importance of Technical Robustness in Harsh Military Environments

Reliably deploying artificial intelligence in the harshest environments on Earth requires specialized hardware. High-performance edge computing is crucial for the success of deployed AI tasks. Operating in competitive environments with limited bandwidth and degraded communications makes cloud-based computing and tactical use of AI burdensome. Computational processing power must reside locally to ensure the low latency and near real-time speeds required by AI-based applications.

To meet these demands, AI must be deployed on rugged computing platforms capable of handling extreme temperatures, shocks, and vibrations; preventing dust and water ingress; and mitigating electromagnetic interference (EMI). The design of these platforms must also ensure the reliability and security of AI systems, especially in critical environments for military operations.

Computational Requirements for Deploying ChatGPT

The computational requirements for training and deploying the ChatGPT model are high, necessitating a powerful computing platform capable of handling vast amounts of data and processing complex algorithms.

For reference, the Big Science Language Open-science Open-access Multilingual (BLOOM) large language model contains 176 billion parameters, which is 10 billion more than GPT-3, which runs ChatGPT. The model is approximately 700GB and must be loaded into GPU memory within a container. The recommended configuration for running this model is 8 NVIDIA A100 80GB GPUs! This is an incredible computational load and is infeasible for any type of edge application.

Deploying ChatGPT-like capabilities in combat will require custom-tailored models that can be trained on large computing servers and deployed on rugged edge systems, utilizing embedded AI technologies (such as our NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin integrated Kite-Strike II task computer) with task-specific parameters.

The Future of Military AI: Charting a Course for Next-Generation Warfare

Deploying ChatGPT in military AI operations has the potential to significantly enhance military operational capabilities across multiple domains. By generating realistic scenarios, simulating conversations, and providing intelligence insights, ChatGPT can assist military personnel in making more informed and effective decisions across numerous applications. There are many potential use cases for ChatGPT-like functionalities on the battlefield, especially in GPS-denied environments where traditional navigation systems are unreliable.

ChatGPT Military Application Scenarios:

Real-time Battlefield Translation: AI technology based on ChatGPT can provide real-time translation services for soldiers, enabling seamless communication between personnel of different nationalities.

Rapid and Accurate Threat Assessment: In high-risk situations, ChatGPT-based AI can analyze vast amounts of data from multiple sources to provide rapid and accurate threat assessments, assisting commanders in making correct decisions.

Operational Mission Planning and Execution: ChatGPT can assist military personnel in planning and executing operational missions by providing real-time intelligence and guidance. For example, it can help troops identify and avoid potential dangers and threats and recommend alternative routes and strategies.

Communication and Coordination: In GPS-denied and contested environments, ChatGPT can help military personnel communicate and coordinate effectively, even in the absence of traditional communication systems. For instance, it can provide troops with the latest status of friendly and enemy forces and facilitate real-time communication between different units.

Tactical Decision Support: ChatGPT can assist military decision-makers in tactical situations by providing them with real-time information about enemy locations, actions, and capabilities, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of friendly forces.

Efficient Logistics Management: ChatGPT can assist in logistics management by analyzing transportation routes, supply chains, and other logistics-related information to identify inefficiencies and optimize resource allocation.

Improved Situational Awareness: ChatGPT can be integrated into military vehicles, drones, and other systems to provide real-time improved situational awareness and decision support. AI systems can analyze input data from various sensors and sources to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date operational environment picture.

AI chatbots trained on natural language models and deployed on rugged, durable edge computers can play a critical role in multi-domain operations, providing soldiers with the real-time information and decision support tools necessary for effective coordination of actions across all domains on the battlefield.

Source: Zhan Zhi Think Tank