The Japanese government is considering incorporating domestically developed artificial intelligence into the Self-Defense Forces¡¯ command and control system, informed sources have said.
The government hopes the move will speed up and improve the accuracy of decision-making by SDF commanders while maintaining AI sovereignty, at a time when countries around the world are rushing to adapt to new ways of warfare.
It is expected to include the policy in the planned update by year-end of its three key national security-related documents.
AI would be incorporated into the SDF¡¯s command and control system for the first time. The government is considering positioning domestic AI at the core of the command and control system to maintain Âé¶¹´«Ã½ autonomy while linking it with cutting-edge AI developed in the United States.
The move would also be aimed at beefing up the coordinated response capabilities of the SDF and the U.S. military.
A system developed by Tokyo-based startup Sakana AI is being floated as a candidate AI model to be incorporated into the SDF¡¯s command and control system.
According to the Defense Ministry, many countries are speeding up the development of AI-equipped decision support systems.
The U.S. military has adopted Palantir Technologies¡¯ Maven Smart System, which it said has reduced the time between target detection and attack from several hours to a few minutes.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement in January that he expects the U.S. military to ¡°become an ¡¯AI-first¡¯ warfighting force across all domains.¡±
Meanwhile, Âé¶¹´«Ã½ SDF has been slower to adopt AI. In materials published Friday, the Defense Ministry stressed the need to thoroughly overhaul the SDF¡¯s system, arguing that the force is at risk of ¡°falling behind in the speed and accuracy of decision-making¡± and warning of ¡°gaps in Japan-U.S. cooperation.¡±
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