The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) should embrace artificial intelligence (AI) to maintain its military advantages, which will require nurturing the country’s private AI defence sector and ensuring there is interoperability with the systems used by its allies, the Commons Defence Committee has said.
In December 2023, the committee launched an inquiry examining how the MoD could meet the aim of strengthening the UK’s defence and security AI ecosystem, as set out in the 2022 Defence AI Strategy.
Highlighting the use of AI in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict – including for the purposes of analysing battlefield data and intelligence, combatting disinformation, drone piloting and targeting identification – the committee said that while the technology can offer “serious military advantages”, there is a mismatch between “rhetoric and reality” on the UK’s AI capabilities.
According to a report published by the committee on 10 January 2025, while the UK has “natural strengths” that could allow it to develop first-class specialisms in defence AI, the sector is under-developed and needs further cultivating.
“Developing a thriving defence AI sector will require improvements in digital infrastructure, data management and the AI skills base, and we urge the MoD to identify where gaps exist so that work can begin to address these issues,” it said.
“We suggest some specific actions it can take, such as making AI a greater part of military education and making it easier for AI specialists to move between the civilian and defence sectors. MoD is also likely to need to work with smaller and non-traditional defence suppliers who currently face barriers to working with defence, and the department needs to adopt its ways of working to make itself a more appealing and effective partner for the sector.
“It needs to become more comfortable with risk-taking, rapid development cycles and working with non-traditional defence suppliers,” it added.
Interoperable systems
It also noted that military AI systems will be “most effective” if they are interoperable with those of the UK’s allies, including Nato and the Aukus partnership with Australia and the US.
It therefore calls for dialogue with allies over shared approaches to data collection, labelling and the ethical use of autonomous technologies, as well as joint working on skills and capacity building.
Aside from further developing the UK’s military AI sector and collaborating with allies, the committee said there also need to be cultural changes to the ways of working at the MoD.
“Harnessing AI for defence requires not just updated technology, but an updated approach, and in today’s report, we call on the Ministry of Defence to transform itself into an ‘AI-native’ organisation, fully integrating AI into its work and mindset,” said sub-committee chair Emma Lewell-Buck.
“Our report finds that the UK is ripe with opportunity, and has the potential to become world-leading in defence AI,” she said. “But if we are to realise this potential, the Ministry of Defence must take a proactive approach and nurture the UK’s industry. While the UK’s Defence AI sector may not compete with the US and China when it comes to scale, we can offer valuable specialism and sophistication.”
The report added that while there are “pockets of excellence” at the MoD, AI is still treated by the department as a “novelty or a niche interest rather than something that will soon be a core component of defence systems across the Armed Forces”.
It suggested the MoD should undertake mapping exercises to assess the “adequacy and resilience” of the digital infrastructure required to run AI products and systems, including computing power; secure cloud computing; datacentres; the availability of semiconductors; quantum computing capacity; and frontier AI models.
In December 2023, the Lords AI in Weapon Systems Committee published a report on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (Laws), which urged the UK government to “proceed with caution” when developing and deploying AI for military purposes.
It said that while the government promised in its 2022 Defence Strategy to approach military AI in an “ambitious, safe and responsible” way, these aspirations have not lived up to reality, and must be translated into practice.
The committee added that it was key that the government sought, established and retained both public confidence and democratic endorsement in the development and use of AI generally, and particularly in respect of Laws.
Responding to the findings of that committee in March 2024, the government insisted it’s already acting responsibly with due caution, and that the MoD’s priority with AI is to maximise military capability in the face of potential adversaries, which it claimed “are unlikely to be as responsible”.
During a debate held in April 2024, Lords expressed mixed opinions towards the UK government’s current position, including its reluctance to adopt a working definition and commit to international legal instruments controlling their use.
