Even top generals are looking to AI chatbots for answers

It's not just the civilian corporate executives and white-collar workers who are leaning into the generative AI boom at work. Military leaders are diving in too.

The top US Army commander in South Korea shared that he is experimenting with generative AI chatbots to sharpen his decision-making, not in the field, but in command and daily work.

He said "Chat and I" have become "really close lately."

"I'm asking to build, trying to build models to help all of us," said Maj. Gen. William 'Hank' Taylor, commanding general of the 8th Army, told reporters during a media roundtable at the annual Association of the United States Army conference in Washington, DC, on Monday.

Taylor said he's using the tech to explore how he makes military and personal decisions that affect not just him but the thousands of soldiers he oversees. While the tech is useful, though he acknowledged that keeping up with the pace of such rapidly developing technology is an enduring challenge.

"As a commander, I want to make better decisions," the general shared. "I want to make sure that I make decisions at the right time to give me the advantage."

AI in the military

Commanders like Taylor are focused on fast decision-making and how AI could provide an advantage because of a thought process popular with military leaders known as the "OODA Loop." The theory, developed by US fighter pilots during the Korean War, posits that troops who can move decisively before the enemy does — and observe, orient, decide, and act— often have the advantage on the battlefield.

Maj. Gen. William 'Hank' Taylor circulates during a training exercise. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Liseth Espinel

The US military is embracing artificial intelligence with a recognition that decisions in future combat may need to be made faster than humans can make them.

The former Secretary of the Air Force said last year that he doesn't think the people saying that AI technology is "going to determine who's the winner in the next battlefield" are "all that far off." He also wrote that with the advancement of highly automated, highly autonomous kill chains, "response times to bring effects to bear are very short."

Predicting what future war will look like, he said that "we're going to be in a world where decisions will not be made at human speed. They're going to be made at machine speed."

AI is being integrated into drone tech, targeting, and data processing, among other capabilities — an AI algorithm has even piloted a modified F-16 through a simulated dogfight — but the military use of AI is not restricted to combat platforms.

Special Operations Forces, for instance, have sought to "reduce the cognitive burden of our operators" through the use of AI tools for paperwork, situation reports, concepts of operation, managing key supply and logistics demands, and other back-end work.

Operators have employed AI to analyze Pentagon doctrine, improve search functions, and make it easier for personnel who are transferring to a new location or position to catch up on the job and requirements quickly.

There are clear applications at the leadership level as well. Bianca Herlory, the Joint Staff AI lead, said at a panel event in April that "AI can significantly enhance the Joint Staff's ability to integrate and analyze global military operations, ultimately enabling better, faster decisions."

Using generative AI also comes with questions, especially in decisions at the command level. The Pentagon has urged caution as troops and leaders explore these tools, warning that generative AI can leak sensitive data. It can also produce deeply flawed answers if not adequately trained, and that could prove risky and even problematic if commanders use it to inform certain high-stakes decisions.

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