MITRE Statement to the Defense Innovation Board’s Project on AI Principles

AI is a key emerging technology that will enable the Joint Force to fight and win future wars. Yet for several reasons, the Department has struggled to field relevant capabilities leveraging this technology. Some of these reasons revolve around AI’s being developed largely in the commercial sector for consumer applications. Some revolve around technical challenges with dirty data and complex system dynamics. Some however revolve around ethical concerns related to AI weapons and military decision making. Clearly, the Department’s integration of AI into military operations must be done in a manner consistent both with our country’s ethics and the laws of warfare. We believe however that from an ethical perspective, AI is similar to a host of technologies that have preceded it and that have been fielded and used in ethical ways. In fact, we believe integrating AI into military systems and operations can help to reduce civilian casualties while providing our troops a critical military advantage.