The impact of information technology in the field of military decision-making is superficially less visible than that of a number of other weapon developments, but its importance has grown steadily since the beginning of the 1980s. It is now the focus of special interest and efforts because of its potential role in modern weapon systems and the prospect of its inclusion as an essential ingredient in many military projects such as the Strategic Defense Initiative.

This book is the first attempt to present a broad overview of the prospects for information technology in general, and machine intelligence in particular, in the context of international security. The dangers and promises of weapon and arms control applications of computers and artificial intelligence to decision-making processes are analysed in a technical, strategic, and political perspective by experts from six different countries.

In an introductory chapter, Allan Din presents a generic overview of artificial intelligence and its prospects. Thirteen contributors, chosen for their expertise in the field, then discuss the conceptual and technical framework of artificial intelligence, analyse some of the implications for weapon systems and strategy, and discuss possible applications to arms control verification and modelling.

Contents

Part I. Overview and summary

1. The prospects for artificial intelligence in weapon and arms control applications
Allan M. Din

Part II. Artificial intelligence concepts and computer technology

2. An introduction to artificial intelligence
Robert Dale

3. Hardware requirements for artificial intelligence
Lennart E. Fahlén

4. Comparison of human and machine intelligence in the context of conflict
Alex M. Andrew

Part III. Military and strategic implications

5. The Strategic Computing Programme
S. Ingvar Åkersten

6. Artificial intelligence and the automated tactical battlefield
Randolph Nikutta

7. Software and systems issues in strategic defence
Herbert Lin

8. Artificial intelligence and disarmament
Gennady B. Kochetkov, Vladimir P. Averchev and Viktor M. Sergeev

Part IV. Applications in arms control analysis

9. Computer applications in monitoring and verification technologies
Torleiv Orhaug

10. Knowledge-based simulation for studying issues of nuclear strategy
Paul K. Davis

11. Verification and stability: A game-theoretic analysis
Steven J. Brams and Marc Kilgour
Appendix 11A. A game-theoretic analysis

12. ARMCO-1: An expert system for nuclear arm control
Allan M. Din

Introduction