The reader is reminded at appropriate intervals that machine learning-based systems are fundamentally limited, constrained to the types of data they are trained on and narrowly applicable, are generally brittle, and lack after-the-fact explainability. Most of those concerns assume a moderate degree of competence in the US military's efforts to adopt AI. I. expert Paul Scharre offers a contemporary exploration of artificial intelligence that will make skeptics worried but also offers solutions to how we should move forward as a species in this new wild west of technological development. Scharre covers a lot of ground in the "intelligentization" or "cognitization" of militaries, from comparing Chinese and American AI military integration efforts to startups, procurement systems, and the possibilities of posthuman war. The institutions work was especially interesting, as our bureaucracy can get in the way of progress.

Many of the examples involve generative AI and I think it might be better to define these techniques as advanced predictive analytics. That being said, the first chapter detailed a lot of worry and intensity around these authoritarian regimes and what they are doing and planning with AI.The only drawback I would find in the book is that it sometimes comes off as too antagonistic towards China, which is understandable in certain contexts but leaves the reader wanting more information from an unbiased perspective. The American system is disaggregated and somewhat chaotic, but it attracts the best talent and is capable of radical breakthroughs. Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming its own separate war fighting domain, cleanly shooting off from the cyber realm. His work, influenced by mentor Jack Ring, emphasizes the limitations of human speed in operating at machine paces, and how cognitive tech is instrumental in achieving the necessary coordination.

My primary reason for denying a star is that the book provides a somewhat murky definition of what AI is in this context. This is an excellent book, and if not for a lot of business travel, I would have finished this library book in two weeks or less. Power is an obvious take on the leverage that companies and nations can get from data analysis and AI.My sense is that Scharre personally believes that the proof of the utility of ever-larger models is already here, “yielding more impressive fundamental breakthroughs than other methods. He also went into great detail about how China uses tactics like in 1984 - controlling the past and the future.