Agentic AI and autonomous systems are developing into mature defence and security capabilities, which promise faster sensing, analysis, planning, targeting, logistics, cyber defence, and decision support. The central issue is legitimacy of command and control, rather than productivity.
The challenge for defence and national security leaders is to exploit the operational advantage of AI without
allowing machine speed to erode human judgement, democratic accountability, alliance cohesion, or compliance with law and ethics. Human-machine systems must be designed so that AI accelerates understanding and execution, while commanders retain authority over intent, escalation, proportionality, and consequence.
This whitepaper—The human firewall: Preserving military decision-making advantage in the age of autonomous systems and agentic AI—created by Nous Group explores, in the context of military operations, the human advantage is the ability to exercise strategic judgement and human agency under political constraint.
It covers:
- How AI is impacting warfare?
- What does command look like in the age of algorithms?
- How can the human advantage be maximised?
Download the whitepaper today.