Gen. Richard Clarke, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), said artificial intelligence will play a key role in SOCOM’s information warfare initiatives in the coming years as military commanders become more focused on information, Defense One reported Monday.
“As we look at the info space and in our fight for competition … working in the information space can have the greatest impact in the coming years.” Clarke said at the annual SOFIC conference.
SOCOM will establish a new office this summer to leverage AI to screen captured mobile devices, facilitate language translation, counter Taliban messaging and support other missions.
“How can I, in real-time, sense what the enemy is stating publicly so we can counter that messaging so we can see what they’re working in the Twittersphere, or what they’re working in the information environment so that we can respond in real-time at the speed of relevance,” Clarke said.
James Smith, acquisition executive at SOCOM, said the command will introduce a program in 2021 to provide mission commanders with better AI platforms. A part of that program is focused on developing visualization software that can enable commanders to see tactical information and “SOF-peculiar” data such as social media trends and population dynamics.