Soldiers to get new AI capable radios, headsets and tablets with futuristic sensor data
www.gov.uk
British soldiers will be able to make faster, better decisions on the battlefield through thousands of new radios, headsets and tablets.
  • New communications systems will give commanders faster battlefield information and speed up decision-making.
  • Ministry of Defence(MOD) awards contract worth up to £86 million to British-based SME for advanced tactical communication systems, such as radios and tablets.
  • Contract creates 12 UK defence industry jobs and builds on successful deployment in Estonia.
  • vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    1·
    11 hours ago

    Object recognition and classification is more narrowly AI, and from the description this thing might have it.

    I’m not sure it’d be a good thing, of course - it’s very unlikely it can reliably classify everything , which will create a contrast between what the combatant uses their senses for and what they are hinted on screen. That’s a very ergonomically debilitating effect. Like night lighting makes you blind for everything outside the illuminated area. Or try playing an airplane simulator game with realistic interactive cockpit and an arcade HUD with less information above it, it’s guaranteed you’ll mostly ignore the former and the information it gives you.

    • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      10 hours ago

      Sure, and they’re talking about that like something they might add to it down the line, because at the end of the day these systems are usually just android apps, so you can theoretically add anything.

      In practice, what’ll most likely happen is that they’ll try that capability out, decide that it sucks, and quietly ditch it. Or, they’ll roll it out anyway in order to keep the government happy, and then commanders will just tell their troops not to use it. Militaries have always known how to work with and around bad equipment.

      If they have to shove in a dumb AI app to get the funding for some actually very useful military equipment approved, well, that’s military procurement for you. Would be nice if the current UK government weren’t so hell bent on shoving AI in everything, but the realistic alternatives currently are “Nazis” and “Sparkling fascists.”

      • vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        2·
        10 hours ago

        Militaries have always known how to work with and around bad equipment.

        Yes, and in that light one can think that defense corruption traditions have an evolutionary reason - they maintain this ability. It doesn’t really matter if something stupid is mandated for purely honest, just misguided, reason, or for a corrupt one, but corruption requires the ability to avoid the outcomes.