Thread by @EHunterChristie

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Explainer of my recent @GLOBSEC paper (link at end) on #NATO policy on #innovation and #AI, what should come next, and how that could also help #Ukraine.

Background bit: I explain the concept of General-Purpose Technology (GPT). AI is a GPT.
This changes the policy mix.

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For any new technology, one could reason that high defence spending and a robust defence industry could internalise: hire lots of new talent and done.
Why, then, do we pursue new forms of partnerships?
Aim is to tap into a broader pool of innovative talent that is...

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...decentralised and dispersed across a wide range of civilian organisations. That's the GPT effect: a narrow new technology, e.g. better radar, would be much more internalised in a small number of "traditional" defence organisations.
Not so for AI.

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That's what led NATO to develop the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), which aims to:

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1. develop a network of national organisations, test centres, innovation accelerators;
2. competitively select private sector innovators and allow them to use national organisations in the network to interface with mil end-users and mil capability development specialists;

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3. provide mentorship and education to innovators to familiarise with the defence and security sectors;
4. develop a database of trusted financial investors and support matchmaking w. innovators;
5. provide expert advice on defence and security innovation to stakeholders

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With DIANA, I argue NATO has reached “the end of the beginning” in designing new pathways for defence innovation. Salient questions now concern overall coherence - how should the new mechanisms be combined with traditional innovation & industry?

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The ultimate goal is innovating faster and better than dangerous rival powers, so as to then produce superior military capabilities at speed and at scale.
It is not enough to innovate, one must also be assured one could manufacture at scale - mass produce if need be.

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How can we know whether new mechanisms are fit-for-purpose? The ultimate test is an exercise, a simulation of a real-life scenario on a realistic scale, akin to a military exercise.
So: exercise DIANA to innovate *and* the rapid manufacturing that would follow.

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The war in Ukraine provides an opportunity for a win-win exercise.
I propose one should design an exercise combining rapid innovation and manufacturing of new capabilities, based on a concrete problem statement that Ukraine and one NATO Ally (e.g. Poland) would agree upon.

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Should the exercise proceed successfully, Allies who are in any case willing to fund military assistance to Ukraine will have developed a useful new capability that supports common NATO and Ukrainian needs, with the possibility of immediate operational deployment.

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The paper is available here:

globsec.org/wp-content/upl…

#ai #ArtificialIntelligence #defence #defense #NATO #DefenseTech #globsec