Chapter 11: “It's Your Turn to Carry the AI, Soldier!” Artificial Intelligence and the Challenges of Introducing New Technologies to Tactical Military Teams

Recent scholarship on the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) tools by military teams has focused predominantly on the potential for cognitive and cultural disruptions to existing team dynamics. Less explored but equally critical to the future of military teams are the practical challenges inherent to the incorporation of a new technology at the tactical, small-unit, or end-user level. Employing historical evidence derived from cases featuring the introduction of novel technologies into the tactical environment can help identify the potential practical impacts of AI tools on military teams, including insufficient individual technical training, poor hardware design and survivability, cumbersome physical weight, equipment prioritization and displacement, operations and maintenance costs, and increased scrutiny from higher elements. The findings suggest that while the potential uses for AI as a discrete tool may indeed prove groundbreaking, its impact on the human dynamics of military teams is likely to follow familiar trends.