Intelligence: The American AI Gap
August 14, 2025: The American military is seeking to upgrade its AI activities to levels China, and perhaps Russia, operate at. The United States must develop Artificial Intelligence /AI technology its military can use for propaganda and influence operations against enemy troops and populations. Current AI technology makes it possible to mimic the voice of enemy officers and then send radio confusing messages to their subordinates. The enemy forces move in the wrong direction and fire artillery at the wrong targets, including their own troops.
AI can also be used to help commanders make decisions more quickly. Any new technology does not reach wide acceptance and use until it establishes its usefulness and trustworthiness to the user population. Such was the case with the telegraph in the late 1800s, broadcast radio in the 1920s and television three decades later. Actually the development of more effective telegraph systems coincided with work to develop commercial radio and television services. In the 1970s personal computers were developed. The idea seemed absurd at first, but as tinkerers and hobbyist developers produced the first PC that actually worked, a new industry was born. By the late 1970s Apple, Radio Shack and a few other firms were selling PCs to what turned out to be a very enthusiastic and rather large audience. Decades of American government and military work on the internet became commercially available in 1995. That made the maturing PC industry a must-have product.
In the 21st century AI became a usable product and as it reached more users, there were more useful and marketable ideas on what AI could be used for. Some of the new uses were illegal, dividing the programmer and user community between good, or White Hat and bad, or Black Hat. Hacking soon became a military and intelligence asset. Many Black Hat programmers turned out to be a national asset once they were hired to protect American commercial and government networks from foreign Black Hats. Programmers who performed both Black and White Hat tasks were sometimes called Grey Hats. The color palette grew as programmers came up with new tools and ways to use them. This was especially true with AI software, which was produced by several firms as well as individuals or small groups that modified commercial AI software and offered it on a black market. Those malicious offerings evolved into marketable products and quickly moved from the black market to legitimate, but sometimes restricted markets because of its use against military and intelligence networks.
https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htintel/articles/202508141843.aspx#gsc.tab=0
