The U.S. Army is looking to incorporate artificial intelligence with the brain as a way to help soldiers avoid danger, National Interest reports.
To do so, scientists with the Army Research Laboratory are working on measuring, processing, analyzing and transmitting electro-chemical signals from the human brain.
“We are working on adapting a sensor that would measure elements of brain activity,” researcher of cognitive neurosciences for the Army Research Laboratory John Touryan told The National Interest.
The sensors would be placed in glasses that soldiers wear. The mobile eye-tracking sensors would be equipped with AI-enabled algorithms that scientists are developing. If the eye catches something of interest, Touryan said the brain will receive an electrical response that can then be analyzed.
“When people are visually engaging with the environment, they naturally identify things and objects of interest that are mission or task relevant. We want to know if we can measure that or infer that,” Touryan said.
The goal is to use AI as a “teammate and not a tool,” according to Touryan.
The sensors that pick up on a specific visual response will be reviewed by AI to make calculations about things like terrain, weather, the soldier's physiological condition and even indications from other soldiers in the squad.
“What are the dynamics of the mission that we can understand from the brain activity of the squad so that we can adapt? We also want to understand intent and higher-level concepts and emotional states,” Touryan told the outlet of the ongoing research.
According to Army scientists, the electrical process occurs so fast that signals begin to be detected and transmitted way before the brain is even aware of what it has seen. They say using AI with the brain works because AI systems are based upon the biological structures of the vision nerves of mammals.
When an object is seen it can instantly be transferred to a computer equipped with a database of potential responses or scenarios, National Interest reports.
If the AI-system realizes that an object seen by the sensors is an enemy fighter, a drone can be deployed immediately to help take action.
“We want to use AI and humans as part of a dynamic system broadly speaking, so that when a new situation arises on the battlefield, we can adapt to that information and that information is then propagated across the system, so resources can be dedicated at the point of need to solve the problem immediately,” Touryan said.
In order to win on the battlefield, the Army is looking to combine the human brain with technology.
“Humans are very good at understanding dynamic environments as things change. Algorithms are traditionally very rigid. We are now bringing in new information from a human adapting to a new environment. Now we can provide that information quickly to an AI system which will be able to adapt to a new thing and understand why it is relevant to a human,” Touryan said.
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