Artificial Intelligence (AI) and National Security

RUSI’s work on AI focuses on how to secure a strategic advantage with the use and development of AI in times of heightened geopolitical tension. States are rapidly developing policies and strategies to ensure that they benefit from the opportunities that AI presents. We assess the effectiveness of current UK and international strategies to design, manage and use AI across defence and security.

The interconnected nature of global supply chains means that states will have to lean heavily on international alliances and partnerships to achieve their own national objectives. The outcome is the convergence of technology, geopolitics, public and private actors, expert communities and different technologies.

RUSI’s focus on AI looks at such convergences and the applications of AI across both the defence and civilian sectors. In defence, we look at target identification, AI integration in defence systems and insider threat detection. Meanwhile, across wider society, we explore the national security implications of AI for cyber, finance, climate and regional power dynamics. Securing an advantage from AI is only possible when states and decision-makers acknowledge that AI can be used maliciously and can have unintended consequences. As states develop AI to advance national security and prosperity agendas, it is important to understand the limits of AI and to explore how to mitigate related risks.