Applications of Large Models in the Military Field

AI large models utilize vast amounts of data from satellite images, radar signals, and social media to fundamentally change the methods of information collection and threat analysis. By integrating multi-source data and applying deep learning algorithms, large models can provide comprehensive battlefield understanding, efficiently identify hidden patterns, anomalous behaviors, and potential threats, playing a key role in strategic decision-making to help the military better understand and respond to complex security situations. Through real-time analysis and predictions, they can uncover and provide critical intelligence, allowing military commanders to make informed decisions.

For instance, the Palantir AI platform AIP integrates large language models to achieve operational data collaboration, action plan suggestions, and more, providing rapid solutions for operational command and optimizing logistics management. Operators can use a ChatGPT-style chatbot on the AIP platform to command drones for reconnaissance, generate attack plans, and organize interference with enemy communications.

In the process of task planning and optimization, AI large models also play a crucial role. By analyzing historical data, constraints in actual operations, and real-time battlefield conditions, these models can generate optimal task plans, including deployment strategies, resource allocation, and tactical maneuver suggestions. This powerful capability significantly reduces the planning time required for complex operations while enhancing the overall efficiency of military actions, allowing forces to adapt more flexibly and quickly to various tactical needs, ensuring the best military outcomes in complex operational environments.

For example, Scale AI’s large language model Scale Donovan helps operational personnel, analysts, and decision-makers accelerate their understanding, planning, and action speed regarding battlefield situations. In May 2023, the U.S. Army deployed the Scale Donovan system within the encrypted network of the 18th Airborne Corps, primarily for decision-making within that airborne unit.

The U.S. military is actively developing the potential of AI large models in autonomous weapon systems. These systems have the capability to make decisions and execute actions without human intervention, improving combat accuracy, reducing casualty risks, and expanding operational capabilities in complex environments. However, the decision-making processes of autonomous weapon systems may involve significant decisions regarding life and property, making strict regulation and oversight essential. While ensuring national security, it is crucial to carefully weigh the relationship between technological innovation and human rights protection to avoid potential risks and misuse.

In January 2023, the U.S. Department of Defense updated the “Autonomous Weapon System Directive.” This revised directive significantly expands the application of artificial intelligence in the military, indicating that the U.S. military is opening the door to AI weapons.

AI large models also play a critical role in logistics and supply chain management within the military field. By comprehensively analyzing historical data, real-time inventory levels, and transportation patterns in logistics networks, large models can identify optimal supply chain routes, taking into account various factors such as terrain, operational status, and potential disruptions, ensuring that critical supplies are delivered to the front lines in a timely manner. The military can better respond to challenges in rapidly changing and complex operational environments, ensuring the supply of materials necessary for operations. This improved efficiency and responsiveness significantly enhance the military’s potential to maintain operational capability and competitive advantage.

AI large models are gradually penetrating the field of military medicine. By deeply mining medical images, patient data, and medical literature, AI large models can quickly and accurately identify potential signs of diseases and injuries, predict treatment outcomes, and recommend the most suitable treatment strategies based on individual patient characteristics, achieving personalized medical services. This capability is expected to provide the military with more efficient and intelligent medical support, offering more comprehensive and advanced solutions for the health protection of military personnel.

In April 2023, officials from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio announced contracts with four technology companies to develop AI and machine learning technologies to address challenging tasks such as operational medical triage. In July 2023, the U.S. Army Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center collaborated with Johns Hopkins University to utilize AI, augmented reality, and robotics to provide virtual assistants for medical personnel and soldiers on the battlefield.

In the military domain, protecting sensitive information and critical infrastructure is vital for national security, and the importance of AI large models in cybersecurity and defensive operations is increasingly prominent. These models can analyze vast amounts of network traffic, identify potential suspicious behaviors, and monitor potential threats in real-time. In protecting military networks, data, and critical infrastructure from cyberattacks, AI large models are becoming an indispensable force, providing new dimensions and possibilities for network defense.