Insecurity: US, Nigeria collaborating on AI military operations

By Kachi Ekile

Nigeria is collaborating with the United States on the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in military operations.

The collaboration was revealed by the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Arms Control, Deterrence, and Stability (ADS) at the U.S. Department of State, Mallory Stewart.

Stewart who briefed journalists at a roundtable session with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday stated that the goal is to work together to support stability and security.

She met with ECOWAS representatives, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, civil society and the National Security Adviser.

“Our bureau is here to focus on, which is hearing the Nigerian voice, hearing the concerns and the elements that we can work together on to support stability and security across the board.

“Some of the important conversations we were able to talk about was how we can work to hear the Nigerian interest in a political declaration that the US government has been working with right now 55 other countries to agree upon the responsible uses of AI in the military context,” Stewart said.

“One of the ways we’ve seen artificial intelligence utilised in the US has been to try to maximise capabilities and hopefully lead to benefits in our systems. And yet, we’ve learned through experience that there’s been challenges and risks that can be brought in, especially in the military context.

“And so the effort through our political declaration process is to hear from as many countries as possible that are at the stage of working in artificial intelligence to their military, are trying to maximise the benefits of artificial intelligence, as we’ve tried to do domestically, but working with those countries to see how we can minimise the risks so that others don’t have to learn some of the hard lessons we’ve learned.

“So we’re working with 55 countries, including several African nations. We hope to expand that to include the voice of Nigeria in leading the regional appreciation for the challenges that incorporating AI may bring,” she added.