16 AUGUST 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 378
FUTUREAIRBATTLEScould
be fought with the help of
artificial intelligence (AI)
systems, as the Defense
Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) is aiming
to train AI technology to
engage autonomously in
close-range aerial duels.
At the moment, no AI system can outwit a
human fighter-jet pilot in high-speed, high-G
dogfights, despitemachines being able to trounce
humans in activities such as poker,computer gaming
and the ancient Chinese board game,Go.
But DARPA’sAir Combat Evolution (ACE)
programme aims to change that by adding more
AI-powered technology intofighter jets, which
will work in collaboration with human pilots in
dog-fighting scenarios.
“Being able to trust autonomy is critical as
we move toward afuture of warfare involving
manned platforms fighting alongside unmanned
systems,”Lieutenant Colonel Dan Javorsek,
ACEprogramme manager at DARPA’sStrategic
Technology Office,explained.
“Weenvision afuture in which AI handles
the split-second manoeuvring during within-visual-
range dogfights, keeping pilots safer and more
effective as theyorchestratelarge numbers of
unmanned systems intoaweb of overwhelming
combat effects.”
By training AI in the rules of dogfighting in the
same waynew fighter pilots are taught, ACEhopes
to have systems that can take care of things such as
avoiding fire from enemy
jets. In doing so,pilots can
apply their abilities to
situations unfolding in a
larger aerial battle,such as
firing weapons and
executing commands in
the midst of combat.
The use of AI in this
fashion is part of DARPA’saim to create‘mosaic
warfare’, by which military combat is conducted by
both human-controlled machines and AI-powered
systems. This approach plans to have simple smart
systems networked together,rather than having
the military createasingle autonomous advanced
platform or war machine.
The idea is that if one part of such an AI-centric
network is destroyed, the rest can still work as a
whole and that expendable part can be replaced
and, as such, make combat more lethal forthe US’s
enemies while better forthe military in terms of
human and monetary costs.
“Linking together manned aircraft with
significantly cheaper unmanned systems creates a
‘mosaic’ where the individual ‘pieces’ can easily be
recomposed to createdifferent effects or quickly
replaced if destroyed, resulting in amore resilient
warfighting capability,” DARPAnotes.
With the ACEprogramme,DARPAwill start off
training the AI systems in the basics of dogfighting
under the watchful eyeofinstructors. Only when
human pilots are confident in the AI development
will such autonomous systems be put intomore
challenging scenarios.
US military looks to artificial intelligence for
close-combat aerial dogfights
TAKINGTHESTELLARcamera of Pixel phones
and popping it intothe mid-range,well-priced Pixel
3a and 3a XL phones has been asharp move by
Google,asour review later on in the issue will
explain (see page 48).
While the camera in the
new Pixel phones is near-
identical to that of their
flagship siblings, Google had
to make one major cut; it
removed the Pixel Visual Core
image signal-processing chip.
Yetdespitethis omission, the
Pixel 3a phones take some of
the best photos around, albeit a
touch slower than their high-end kin.
That’s all thanks to Google really pushing
its software engineering and optimisation to
ensure that the lack of hardware processing
doesn’t blight the results of the Pixel 3a phones’
camera capabilities.
This is notable,aswhen we asked what this
boded forthe future of the high-end Pixel phones, a
Google spokesperson told us the software wizardry
learnt in the Pixel 3a development will help pave the
wayfor Google to extract more out of its Visual Core
processor when it comes to the
Pixel 4, expected in the autumn.
As this is the Labs section, we
can dust off our crystal ball and
predict that future Pixel cameras
will have some serious smart
capabilities behind them, from
turning sloppily shot pictures
intopleasing photos, to opening
up more scope foraugmented
reality features and intelligent image recognition.
It might seem like asmall thing, but there’s a
good chance that advancements here could result
in your smartphone’s camera almost acting like a
third eye, through which you can better see and
understand your environment.
Google’s Pixel 3a software wizardry paints a
powerful picture for future phone cameras
If dogs could
talk –and we
cannot stress this
enough –they
would tell youto
driveaTesla”
Elon Musk’scar company isn’t
shy on self-promotion
Our inquiry
has exposed a
health service that
is losing its grip on
health screening
programmes”
Public Accounts Committee
chairMeg Hillier MPon why
some NHS technology is unfit
forpurpose
We want to
empower
everyone to use AI to
applytoproblems
theysee in their
communities”
Google’s AI bossJeffDeantalks
up the societal benefits of AI tech
Thestakes
aretoo high
in criminal
investigations to
rely on unreliable –
or wrong –inputs”
Georgetown University’s Center
on Privacy and Technologyon
the NYPD’s alleged abuse of
facial-recognition technology
Chopping
agreat
American success
storyinto bits isn’t
suddenlygoing
to makethose
problems go away”
Former Lib Dem leader turned
Facebook global affairs chief
Nick Cleggisn’t convinced that
breaking up the social network
will solve its privacy problems
