New Focus on AI Interoperability, Responsible Use, and Combating Disinformation
- Enhanced Interoperability and Collaboration: NATO’s updated strategy emphasizes interoperability between AI systems and closer cooperation with industry and academia.
- Addressing Emerging Threats: The strategy identifies AI-enabled disinformation and other new challenges as areas of concern.
- Focus on Responsible AI Use: The revised strategy aims to implement NATO’s Principles of Responsible Use (PRUs) more effectively across all AI applications.
On July 10, 2024, NATO unveiled its revised artificial intelligence (AI) strategy, designed to accelerate the adoption of AI technologies within the Alliance while ensuring their safe and responsible use. This update builds on NATO’s 2021 AI Strategy, incorporating recent advancements in AI, including generative AI and AI-enabled information tools, and outlining new priorities to enhance AI integration and effectiveness.
Enhanced Interoperability and Collaboration
One of the key priorities in NATO’s revised AI strategy is to increase interoperability between AI systems across member nations. By fostering closer cooperation with allied industries, academia, and innovation hubs like NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator DIANA and the NATO Innovation Fund, NATO aims to build a robust AI ecosystem. This collaborative effort is crucial for developing AI technologies that can seamlessly work together and support NATO’s operational goals.
The strategy also highlights the importance of combining AI with other emerging disruptive technologies to further strengthen NATO’s capabilities. This approach is expected to facilitate the development of more advanced and versatile AI applications, enhancing NATO’s overall strategic and operational effectiveness.
Addressing Emerging Threats
For the first time, NATO’s AI strategy identifies AI-enabled disinformation, information operations, and gender-based violence as critical issues. The strategy acknowledges the growing threat posed by the misuse of AI technologies to spread false information and manipulate public perception. To combat these challenges, NATO plans to enhance its strategic foresight and analysis capabilities, ensuring that the Alliance is better prepared to protect against adversarial use of AI.
Additionally, the revised strategy emphasizes the need for NATO to stay ahead of potential threats by continuously monitoring and understanding the evolving landscape of AI and data technologies. This proactive approach will help NATO identify and mitigate risks associated with the rapid development and deployment of AI.
Focus on Responsible AI Use
A central theme of NATO’s revised AI strategy is the responsible adoption and use of AI technologies. Building on the six Principles of Responsible Use (PRUs) established in the 2021 AI Strategy—lawfulness, responsibility and accountability, explainability and traceability, reliability, governability, and bias mitigation—NATO aims to ensure that all AI applications adhere to these principles.
The strategy outlines several goals to achieve this, including:
- Providing a foundation for NATO and its allies to lead by example in the responsible development and use of AI for defense and security.
- Accelerating AI adoption in capability development and delivery, with a focus on enhancing interoperability.
- Protecting and monitoring AI technologies to manage risks and safeguard innovation.
- Identifying and mitigating threats from adversarial use of AI.
Strategic Context and Future Directions
NATO’s revised AI strategy acknowledges the rapid pace of AI advancements and the increasing complexity of AI technologies. As AI becomes a general-purpose technology, it presents both opportunities and challenges for the Alliance. The strategy aims to leverage these advancements while addressing issues such as the diminishing global availability of quality public data for AI training and the energy demands of compute-intensive AI applications.
To support the responsible adoption of AI, NATO plans to develop a comprehensive AI Testing, Evaluation, Verification, and Validation (TEV&V) framework. This framework will utilize DIANA-affiliated test centers and other specialized facilities to ensure that AI applications can be safely and effectively integrated into NATO’s operations.
Furthermore, NATO recognizes the need to address the impact of AI on the military and civilian workforce. This may involve retraining programs, changes in job roles, and integrating technical experts more deeply into military operations.
Ideas for Further Exploration
- Ethical Considerations: Investigating the ethical implications of using AI in military and defense contexts.
- Global Cooperation: Exploring partnerships with other international organizations to set global standards for AI use in defense.
- Innovation in AI Training: Developing new methods to train AI models using high-quality, diverse datasets to enhance their effectiveness and reduce biases.
NATO’s revised AI strategy represents a significant step forward in integrating advanced AI technologies into the Alliance’s operations. By focusing on interoperability, responsible use, and addressing emerging threats, NATO aims to harness the full potential of AI while ensuring the safety and security of its member nations.