Information in War: Military Innovation, Battle Networks, and the Future of Artificial Intelligence

An in-depth assessment of innovations in military information technology informs hypothetical outcomes for artificial intelligence adaptations

In the coming decades, artificial intelligence (AI) could revolutionize the way humans wage war. The military organizations that best innovate and adapt to this AI revolution will likely gain significant advantages over their rivals. To this end, great powers such as the United States, China, and Russia are already investing in novel sensing, reasoning, and learning technologies that will alter how militaries plan and fight. The resulting transformation could fundamentally change the character of war.

In Information in War, Benjamin Jensen, Christopher Whyte, and Scott Cuomo provide a deeper understanding of the AI revolution by exploring the relationship between information, organizational dynamics, and military power. The authors analyze how militaries adjust to new information communication technology historically to identify opportunities, risks, and obstacles that will almost certainly confront modern defense organizations as they pursue AI pathways to the future. Information in War builds on these historical cases to frame four alternative future scenarios exploring what the AI revolution could look like in the US military by 2040.

Benjamin M. Jensen is a professor at the Marine Corps University’s School of Advanced Warfighting, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and an officer in the US Army Reserves with multiple deployments.

Christopher Whyte is an assistant professor at the Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Lt. Col. Scott Cuomo (USMC) is a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, served as the Marine Corps representative on the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, and is currently assigned to the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy focused on Strategy and Force Development.