近期，美国空军进行了一项名为“实验3”的演习，重点测试了人工智能（AI）在加速目标识别、决策以及减少操作员认知负荷方面的作用。此次演习模拟了未来潜在的作战场景，旨在检验AI技术如何提升作战链的效率和精度。演习中，操作员使用AI软件来加快决策和目标定位过程，并将其与仅由操作员进行的评估进行对比，以探索人机协同的价值。虽然AI在提高效率方面展现出潜力，但演习也突显了人类判断，如直觉、经验和态势感知在关键时刻的重要性。美国军方正积极通过自动化、AI和数据驱动的指挥控制等方式来演进其作战链，并认识到AI在未来高自动化、高自主性战争中的关键作用，但同时也面临着关于AI伦理和监管的讨论，特别是如何确保在高速作战中“人在环中”的决策机制。

🎯 **AI加速作战决策与目标识别**：在美空军的“实验3”演习中，AI被用于加速目标识别和决策过程，旨在缩短作战反应时间，提高决策效率。通过AI软件的应用，操作员能够更快地处理信息，从而优化整个作战链的执行速度，这对于应对未来高节奏的战争至关重要。

🧠 **降低操作员认知负荷**：AI技术被引入以减轻操作员在处理海量战场数据时的精神压力，即“认知负荷”。通过AI的辅助分析，操作员可以更专注于关键决策，而不是被繁杂的信息淹没，这有助于提升其在复杂战场环境下的表现和判断力。

🤝 **探索人机协同的优势**：演习通过对比AI生成的建议与操作员的独立决策，揭示了人类判断（如直觉、经验和态势感知）与机器建议之间的互补性。这种人机协同的模式被认为是未来战争的关键，能够结合双方优势，实现更优的作战结果。

🚀 **AI在未来战争中的角色与挑战**：美国军方视AI为未来战争的核心技术之一，认为掌握AI解决方案是赢得下一场重大战争的关键。然而，AI在军事领域的应用也伴随着伦理担忧和监管挑战，尤其是在确保关键决策始终由人类主导方面，这在高速、数据驱动的未来战争中可能面临现实考验。

A recent US Air Force test involved artificial intelligence in kill chain decisions.The service said the AI helped speed up decisions and reduce the cognitive load on operators.It's one example of how the US military is working with AI in combat-related roles.

The US Air Force used artificial intelligence to speed up its targeting decisions in a recent exercise.

The goal was to test how AI could improve the accuracy and timeliness of operator responses, the Air Force said, in order to have a more automated kill chain in a potential future fight.

The four-day Experiment 3 exercise, held last month, was a stress test of future warfare technologies and tactics in a realistic combat scenario.

"By replicating this novel methodology, we allowed tactical-level participants to explore how tools and workflows could shape kill chain execution for the future of warfighting," Lt. Col. Wesley Schultz, the director of operations for the 805th Combat Training Squadron/Shadow Operations Center-Nellis, said.

A kill chain is a military decision process that guides how forces detect a threat, zero in on it, act, and evaluate the outcome. The US military is actively looking to evolve its kill chain through automation, AI, data-driven command and control decisions, and interconnected sensors, surveillance, and reconnaissance tools.

During the training, operators used AI software to accelerate decision-making and targeting processes. It was designed to speed up those processes and "reduce the cognitive load" on human operators, the service said in a release.

Reducing the cognitive load, or mental effort, of warfighting personnel has become a priority, especially in recent years with the rise of AI. US military leaders and officials believe that AI can assist humans in assessing massive amounts of battlefield data to help make clearer decisions more quickly. 

The AI used was developed under the Maven Smart System, a larger US military AI initiative. During testing, the assessments made only by operators were compared to those made with AI recommendations.

The testing was intended to explore the value of human-machine teaming. "Differences between machine-generated recommendations and operator decisions highlighted the complementary strengths of human judgment, such as intuition, experience and situational awareness, in time-sensitive targeting," the service said.

Feedback from the exercise, as well as observations of how the AI operated, was then used to refine systems and processes. Former Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said earlier this year that future warfare will be "highly automated, highly autonomous, action at long range, precision," and space will be a "decisive theater," adding that the "response times to bring effects to bear are very short"

"We're going to be in a world," he said, "where decisions will not be made at human speed; they're going to be made at machine speed."

And last year, he argued that mastery of artificial intelligence solutions could be key to winning the next major war.

US military branches have been testing how to use AI to speed up decision-making. The Air Force has been looking at pairing the technology with uncrewed systems and drones, like collaborative combat aircraft. The service has let AI algorithms fly fighter jets, and there has been a lot of time and research invested in how artificial intelligence can augment pilot capabilities.

AI as a tool can also complete back-end work in the military, such as better search functions for analyzing Department of Defense doctrine, understanding elements of specific locations, commands, or job positions, paperwork, and situation reports.

The rise of AI in militaries has been met with skepticism and ethical concerns from experts and officials about its implementation, especially in combat scenarios. The Pentagon has maintained that its policy on AI will keep a human in the loop for decision-making, though some observers have argued that this may not be possible in a high-speed, data-driven future war.

Others have noted that the technology may develop at a quicker pace than Washington or the Pentagon can regulate it. In recent Air Force testing, the human was kept in the loop. The AI functioned in a support role rather than hunting down targets independently with autonomy.