By Zamone Perez
Virginia News Connection
As artificial intelligence innovation draws both praise and criticism from Americans, the emerging technology is becoming a consequential force in the U.S. military.
Virginia will soon be home to a new defense technology company called Turbine-One. The company focuses on defense software that allows service members to transform data into actionable information while in battle, without a cloud connection.
Jamie De Coster, TurbineOne’s chief of staff, said AI can give troops what is called the “decision advantage,” where they can gain the upper hand by disseminating information faster and more accurately.
“It speeds up their ability to understand and process all of the data that you’re seeing out there on the battlefield these days,” De Coster said. “You have drones. You have radar information. You have what they call signals intelligence. So much information is out there, and the humans have to be able to process it at speed and AI helps them do that.”
According to the Pentagon, more than $68 billion were spent on defense in the Commonwealth in fiscal year 2023. That includes $20 billion in payroll and $45 billion in defense contracts. That represented nearly 10% of Virginia’s gross domestic product for that year.
Critics of AI’s use in the military say that it challenges human accountability and the way that laws and ethics function in armed conflict.
De Coster said AI for national defense is not meant to completely take human control away from the military, but rather help troops as they’re fighting future battles.
“There’s concerns about AI automating, or automating processes or decisions or being out of control,” De Coster said. “For us, it’s important that the humans are there, helping us make sure we’re making smart decisions and good decisions. So our AI empowers, instead of replaces.”
The move by the company comes as the Pentagon feuds with AI company Anthropic over its refusal to allow its technology to be used for autonomous lethal weapons or mass domestic surveillance.
