Smartphones, AI Changing Modern Warfare Model: Analysis

A woman looks at a smartphone in front of graffiti depicting an anti-tank missile reading "The only target," in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Jan. 25, 2023. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)

News Analysis

Modern warfare is shifting dramatically with the universal use of smartphones and the internet, and the application of artificial intelligence (AI) to weaponry. From the use of social media for documentation and propaganda purposes, to the rapid development of drones and AI, the world is grappling with the practical and ethical implications of today’s advanced technologies.

Cellphones: Dream or Nightmare

“The ubiquitous smartphone has really changed the face of modern warfare to a great extent. It makes it almost impossible to conduct military activities in secret, and it can catch instantaneous military intelligence, such as troop movements, mobilization of rear equipment and staff,” military expert Xia Luoshan told The Epoch Times on Feb. 20.

In war, smartphones have become a tool for civilians to record data about the enemy, located to time and place. Built-in microphones and cameras can record and transmit war footage and provide videos and pictures to social media platforms.

Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyro, has repeatedly touted the exploits of Chechen fighters on TikTok and Instagram, but the troops’ use of cell phones and the internet exposed their location, inviting Ukraine’s military intelligence to launch several attacks.

“If the military uses smartphones, it would be tantamount to suicide because the enemy could easily pinpoint the location of the smartphone for an attack,” Xia said.

Civilians’ mobile communication devices, used for social media, make it somewhat difficult to collect accurate data for direct military attacks on targets because they cannot approach too close to the battlefield. However, “it’s still useful intelligence,” Xia added.

“Smartphones are a dream come true for the intelligence people and a nightmare for the counterintelligence people,” Eliot Cohen, a historian and strategist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told The Wall Street Journal on Feb.16.

A Ukrainian serviceman talks on a smartphone in front of a damaged residential building at Koshytsa Street, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, where a military shell allegedly hit, on Feb. 25, 2022. (Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images)

‘The First Open Source War’: Watchdog Group

At the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian war, most of Ukraine’s infrastructure was destroyed by the Russian army and its communications network was disrupted. SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk gave Ukraine access to Starlink, a satellite internet access service, so that Ukraine’s army and residents could use the internet and stay connected to the outside world.

The internet allows Ukrainians to document people’s daily lives in wartime. Those uploads and posts in various forms sparked global condemnation of the Russian bombing in Ukraine. That, in turn, posed a psychological strain on Russian soldiers.

A prime example is the viral video of a young girl hiding in an underground bomb shelter in Kyiv, singing the song “Let It Go” from Disney’s “Frozen.” In another video, a cellist plays a melancholy Bach suite on a bombed-out street in Kharkiv. These videos resonated with millions of people around the world.

While the internet, cell phones, and AI affect battlefield news and instant communication, social media has a different, but powerful, impact on modern warfare. In Xia’s view, it “inevitably serves as propaganda that [has] effects on an army’s combat power.”

The internet and social media make it easier to record the war. Mnemonic, a nonprofit organization that helped document human rights violations in the Russian-Ukrainian war, currently has 2.8 million digital records in its Ukrainian archives, according to the Wall Street Journal. Previously, it had collected and preserved 5 million digital records in its Syrian archives during the 11-year-long Syrian war.

Bellingcat, an organization that has documented the Russian-Ukrainian war since it broke out, has consulted with international prosecutors on how to process and archive this material online so that it can be presented as standard legal evidence in court in the future, the report said.

“We’ve developed a process that specifically is intended for legal accountability using open-source evidence … It’s the first open-source war,” said Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins.

A Ukrainian serviceman flies a drone on the outskirts of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, on Dec. 30, 2022. (Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images)

The Implications of AI for Modern Warfare

Drones and AI are frequently used in the battle between Russia and Ukraine, with both armies using drones to spy on the opposite side or to carry offensive weapons. Drones are expected to quickly seize air control in the region, which is unprecedented.

The U.S. Air Force has successfully used AI to fully manipulate F-16s, allowing the aircraft to take off, land, and conduct combat maneuvers for up to 17 hours without human intervention, Edwards Air Force Base announced on Twitter on Feb. 15.

The algorithm was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense’s research agency, DARPA, and is the first time that AI has played a key role in a tactical aircraft. Prior to the breakthrough, AI was only used for F-16 melee simulations.

“In less than three years, artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms developed under DARPA’s Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program have progressed from controlling simulated F-16s flying aerial dogfights on computer screens to controlling an actual F-16 in flight,” said a DARPA press release on Feb. 13.

In another advance, the U.S. Army is moving forward with an AI-powered artillery shell capable of more accurate long-range fire. As long as it is within the range of AI sensing, the system can accurately locate and target moving armored vehicles.

Xia said that the Chinese Communist Party and the United States are converting some soon-to-be-obsolete combat aircraft into drones. The technology is a practical use for aging aircraft, he said.

“The role of AI is reflected in the autonomy of the system, as it can be applied to weapons such as aircraft, artillery, and combat vehicles. These practices are ultimately about incorporating weapons into an autonomous system or perfecting a system. And the way AI is applied will have far-reaching implications for the future,” he said.

On Feb. 16, more than 60 countries met at the first Summit on Responsible Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain. The summit, co-hosted at The Hague by South Korea and the Netherlands, discussed the implications of AI on modern warfare. Participants signed a call to action on how to develop and use military AI in a manner that does not undermine international security, stability, and responsibility.

The rapid development of drones and AI has led to concerns about how AI will affect human decision-making in warfare. Currently, there is no concrete international legal framework to define the issue.

Ingvild Bode is associate professor of political science at the University of Southern Denmark, and a frequent lecturer and writer on AI and warfare. “Weaponising AI in the form of weapons systems with autonomous features signals a concerning development as they may completely change the nature of warfare,” she said, writing on the university’s website. “This is because they come with a decrease or even a functional loss of human control over the use of force.”