Book Review - Algorithms of Armageddon

Algorithms of Armageddon: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Future Wars by George Galdorisi and Sam J. Tangredi

Reviewed by former LCDR Kevin McDonald, USN Author of "Life Inside the Dead Man’s Curve," and "A Nation Interrupted"

In the interest of disclosure and by way of introduction, let me state up front that I am an associate and former squadron mate to one of the two authors who produced this insightful and prophetic book. George Galdorisi was my skipper when I was attached to Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 43 (now Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 73) onboard Naval Air Station North Island more than three decades ago. In recent years, since the time when I first began to consider writing books of my own, he has become a close friend and valuable literary mentor.

Ten years ago, George penned the foreword to my first book. Since that time, he and I have collaborated on several literary projects, including "Braveship Writers Share Their Secrets," a “how-to” book on writing. Having offered all this as background, I wish I could take a share of the credit for "Algorithms of Armageddon," written by George (who is Director of Strategic Assessments and Technical Futures for the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific) and Sam J. Tangredi (Leidos Chair of Future Warfare Studies and Professor of National, Naval and Maritime Strategy at the U.S. Naval War College).

Both authors are retired Navy Captains (Galdorisi an aviator, and Tangredi a surface warfare officer), and both—as evidenced by their current positions—are experts on national security. Throw in the fact that Galdorisi is a New York Times best-selling author and you have the makings of a highly informative, entertaining read about artificial intelligence as it relates to current and future warfare.

As Galdorisi and Tangredi put it, “One of the ways that nations prepare for war is to ensure that their military services are equipped with emerging technologies. If we have established anything during the course of this book, it is the fact that the technological peer competitors of the United States—the PRC [People’s Republic of China] and Russia—are investing enormous sums of money in developing AI-enabled systems and adapting them for military use.” They go on to say, “The problem is that the bad international actors already have AI. They have the capacity to develop it on their own—perhaps not as fast as the Silicon Valley corporations, but steadily. They currently are developing autonomous weapons to be controlled by AI, and they don’t care what any public influencer in the United States or other democracy says about it.”

In short, the AI genie is already out of the bottle. That is a given. There is but one remaining question: How should U.S. foreign policy and military planners respond to this new and already-evolving threat? This is the question Galdorisi and Tangredi artfully address.

In this informative and sometimes sobering read, the authors examine the potential repercussions of artificial intelligence on both free and politically oppressed societies. Even more chilling are their revelations regarding the inevitable military applications for AI. In much the same way the world has been forced to deal with the specter of nuclear war since 1945, we must now learn to deal with the threat of autonomous weaponry in the hands of people who mean us harm. As the authors correctly point out, the only recourse for freedom-loving nations at this point is a "fight-fire-with-fire" strategy, in which we must constantly one-up the other side.

Replete with detailed footnotes, "Algorithms of Armageddon" is a comprehensive compilation of the most thorough combat AI research to date. It is a must-read for anyone—particularly anyone in the Naval Service—who wants to stay well informed on the nuanced geopolitics of a technological world. I highly recommend it to junior officers, flag officers, and everyone in between.