German army eyes AI tools to expedite wartime decision-making

BERLIN — The German army is working to accelerate wartime decision-making through artificial intelligence tools capable of analyzing battlefield data more rapidly than humans, drawing lessons from Ukrainian and other forces, its commander told Reuters.

Lt. Gen. Christian Freuding , who became army chief last October after years of overseeing Germany’s arms supplies to Kyiv, shared his insights from visits to Ukrainian command posts where drones and modern sensors have drastically increased the volume of battlefield data.

“The Ukrainians exploit data which they have collected over four years of war. Based on this data, the AI can deduce how the enemy has acted in similar situations in the past - and recommend countermeasures,” he said.

He noted that tasks now requiring hundreds of personnel and days to complete could be sped up significantly through AI, adding that conventional methods alone would never be enough to “break the adversary’s decision-making cycle.”

Freuding suggested utilizing data from Ukraine and from German military exercises when training analytical tools, ensuring alignment with Germany’s operational principles.

Addressing ethical concerns, he emphasized that AI would serve only as an advisory tool to facilitate human decision-making.

“The task of taking analytical and balanced decisions will always remain with the human, with the soldier,” he said, adding that while a specific AI product is yet to be selected, the technology’s deployment is a priority.

Freuding underscored the importance of aligning Germany’s AI systems with NATO’s evolving standards. He did not rule out a European-developed system, but said American solutions might offer practical advantages due to their advanced deployment.

“Personally, I think it’s important that we get something up and running quickly. Of course, issues like data sovereignty and security need to be taken into account,” he added.

The U.S. Army is fielding the AI tool Maven , made by the Silicon Valley company Palantir, to process battlefield data, including imagery and video, to improve situational awareness and speed up decision-making.

柏林——德国陆军司令告诉路透社，德国陆军正在努力通过人工智能工具加快战时决策速度，这些工具能够比人类更快地分析战场数据，并从乌克兰和其他国家的军队中吸取经验教训。

克里斯蒂安·弗罗伊丁中将去年十月成为陆军总司令，此前他多年负责监督德国对基辅的武器供应。他分享了自己对乌克兰指挥所的访问心得，在这些指挥所中，无人机和现代传感器极大地增加了战场数据量。

他说：“乌克兰人利用了他们在四年战争中收集的数据。基于这些数据，人工智能可以推断敌人过去在类似情况下是如何行动的，并提出应对措施。”

他指出，现在需要数百名人员花费数天才能完成的任务，可以通过人工智能大大加快速度，并补充说，仅靠传统方法永远不足以“打破对手的决策周期”。

弗罗伊丁建议在训练分析工具时利用来自乌克兰和德国军事演习的数据，以确保与德国的作战原则保持一致。

针对伦理方面的担忧，他强调人工智能只会作为一种辅助人类决策的咨询工具。

“做出分析性和平衡性决策的任务始终属于人，属于士兵，”他说道，并补充说，虽然尚未选定具体的AI产品，但该技术的部署是当务之急。

弗罗伊丁强调了德国人工智能系统与北约不断发展的标准保持一致的重要性。他并未排除采用欧洲自主研发的系统，但表示美国的解决方案由于其先进的部署技术，可能具有实际优势。

“就我个人而言，我认为尽快启动并运行一些项目非常重要。当然，数据主权和安全等问题也需要考虑，”他补充道。

美国陆军正在部署硅谷公司 Palantir 开发的人工智能工具 Maven，用于处理战场数据（包括图像和视频），以提高态势感知能力并加快决策速度。