South Korea looks to 'AI army' amid pressure from falling birthrate

South Korea's military and defense industry is rapidly pushing for artificial intelligence on the battlefield, seeing the technology as a lifeline for a fighting force struggling with the prospect of troop shortages.

Korea Aerospace Industries showcased the concept of an "AI pilot" at the Korean Army International Defense Industry Exhibition in October. (Photo by Ahn Seong-bok)

AI was the theme at the Korea Army International Defense Industry Exhibition (KADEX) held last month in Gyeryong, a central South Korean city that is home to all three branches of the military. The event attracted defense officials from 27 countries.

Exhibitors included shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean, which presented a model of an “unmanned command and control vessel” similar to an aircraft carrier. The vessel, which can carry aircraft and submarines, would operate without human control, carrying out reconnaissance or combat operations.

“This is a concept we want to develop,” a Hanwha Ocean representative said. “It will take time for us to achieve that.”

Also at the event, an engineer at Korea Aerospace Industries explained the company's "AI pilot" concept — a system that has been trained in virtual environments to handle obstacles and other conditions and is now being tested on actual aircraft. KAI plans to fly the system in formation with manned aircraft and test it on light attack aircraft early next year.

AI technology has already been used on land in devices like Hyundai Rotem's unmanned ground vehicle, which attracted a large crowd of interested visitors at the show.

South Korea, which had the world's lowest birth rate last year, is looking particularly to AI to make up for its declining population.

“Deploying unmanned systems is our top priority to maintain combat capabilities even as a lower birthrate reduces our troop numbers,” national security adviser Shin Won-sik, then defense minister, said in March.

Seoul's vision for AI in defense extends to unmanned platforms. Its military wants to use the technology in combat command, to defend more precisely against external attacks.

“AI will assist commanders in performing the large amount of calculations needed to make decisions,” said a military insider.

Combat conditions are constantly changing, and quickly understanding changes across the entire battlefield requires analyzing large amounts of reconnaissance information. Humans' ability to process large amounts of data is limited.

“A military that digitizes the battlefield and can grasp the situation from the front to the rear in real time can make fewer mistakes than one that relies on human observation,” said Tomoyuki Furutani, a professor at Japan’s Keio University and an expert on military AI. The technology has the potential to improve the accuracy of attacks and reduce attrition.

South Korea is working to maximize the use of AI nationwide to improve reliability.

In April, the South Korean government released a digital innovation strategy that calls for using AI as a foundation to develop industries including defense, as well as manufacturing and agriculture.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/han-quoc-huong-den-quan-doi-ai-truoc-ap-luc-ti-le-sinh-giam-292631.html