The UK’s defence establishment needs to learn from the tech sector’s “fail fast” mindset if it wants to successfully adopt and adapt AI, a committee of MPs has warned.
While defence officials were talking a good game on “AI as a transformative development, the department does not behave as though this is the case”, the House of Commons Defence Committee said, as it released a report on Developing AI Capacity and Expertise in UK Defence.
Launching the report, Emma Lewell-Buck MP said, the UK had to move fast to avoid falling behind. The MoD needed to transform itself into “an AI-native organisation”, she said.
“The use of AI in Ukraine shows that it offers serious military advantage on the battlefield, and as AI becomes more widespread and sophisticated, it will change the way defence works, from the back office to the frontline.”
There were “pockets of excellence” within the MoD, the report said, but the department was “by its own admission” not AI ready.
Right now, the committee said, AI was too often treated as a novelty, and the MoD offered few specifics on how to exploit the technology to transform defence.
The report highlighted evidence from the Adam Smith institute that “pointed out the mismatch between the frequency of AI appearing in policy speeches and the very small number of AI contracts awarded by MOD.”
And, it said, “there were few examples of Defence AI applications making it beyond small-scale experimentation and actually being adopted by the Armed Forces.” Several witnesses highlighted a lack of joined up action, with different organizations taking separate approaches to the same problem.
Incentivising innovation was a problem, with the MoD not giving clear signals to industry on “the kind of Defence AI it wishes to acquire” while smaller – potentially more innovative firms – did not have a clear route to market.
The committee said the department should “cultivate a more dynamic ecosystem of smaller AI companies working in Defence”. This could include sponsoring early stage R&D and helping startups and SMEs partner with established suppliers.
But there was also a mismatch in culture. “Tech’s ‘fail fast’ mindset and model of rapid, iterative development is not something that comes naturally to Defence,” it said, and the MoD needed to set out specific actions to foster a cultural shift.
Other changes might be even harder to achieve. The report highlighted the shortage of AI professionals. The MoD struggles to compete on pay, while many of the people studying AI or working on relevant projects in the private sector are not UK nationals, “which can create issues when working on sensitive projects”.
And while the UK defence establishment has close ties with its allies, not everyone wants to share data or technology. The report noted that “export controls could be an obstacle to effective AUKUS collaboration on Defence AI” though the partners announced “mutual export control reforms” last year.
Which is lovely, though “It is unknown what the new US administration’s approach to AI, to trade policy and to defence more widely will be.”
An MoD spokesperson told The Stack that it welcomed the report and would respond fully in due course.
The department recognised the importance of embracing these technologies to "maintain our edge" against increasing threats.
“We are working closely with public sector, academic, and industry partners and with allies to realise the full benefits of defence AI and the Strategic Defence Review provides a unique opportunity to build on this and develop the capabilities we need to keep Britain safe."
