The Japan Self-Defense Forces Command System Will Introduce Domestic AI

Reference News Network reported on August 12 According to Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun on August 10, the Japanese government has begun to consider introducing domestically produced artificial intelligence (AI) into the Self-Defense Forces' central command and control system. The goal is to build a rapid decision-making system centered on domestic AI while integrating world-leading foreign AI. As cutting-edge technology continues to change the nature of warfare, the government is accelerating its response to "new types of combat" by introducing AI.

The use of AI in the command system will also be included in the "three security documents," including the revised National Security Strategy, which is scheduled to be updated by the end of the year.

Command and control refer to the entire process from formulating response plans for various Self-Defense Forces units based on threat assessments to issuing orders. With advancements in technologies such as drones, satellites, and sensors, how to process vast amounts of data in a short time and enhance decision-making capabilities for missile defense has become an urgent issue to address.

The government envisions using AI for information collection, analysis, and evaluation to support rapid decision-making by Self-Defense Forces commanders. From an economic and security perspective, domestically produced AI will be placed at the core. The U.S. military has also adopted the "Maven AI System" developed by the American AI company Palantir Technologies for command and control.

The most promising domestic AI system is the multi-agent orchestration system "Pufferfish" developed by the startup "School of Fish" AI Company. Its core function is "orchestration," which allows the AI in the command center to assign processing tasks to multiple AI systems, achieving high performance at a low cost.

The development team will only recruit individuals with Japanese nationality. A government official explained that this aligns with the government's policy of emphasizing "AI sovereignty," which means managing data and systems independently without relying on foreign entities.

On the 7th, the Ministry of Defense released summaries of two documents from the "three security documents," including the National Defense Strategy, which clearly outlines the policy of improving decision-making speed and accuracy through AI. A proposal submitted by the Liberal Democratic Party in June called for establishing "AI sovereignty" to achieve autonomous selection and use of AI, and the call for using domestically produced AI in the security field is gaining momentum.

According to Kyodo News on August 9, Yoichi Iida, the Cabinet Cybersecurity Officer of the National Cyber Coordination Office, stated that due to growing concerns about AI models capable of identifying security vulnerabilities launching cyberattacks, Japan is considering using cutting-edge AI systems to enhance its response capabilities based on a proactive cyber defense policy.

Iida said that the time required to discover vulnerabilities with cutting-edge AI and launch cyberattacks "could be shortened to a fraction of what it used to be, even to one-hundredth or one-thousandth of the previous time."

Iida also mentioned that if advanced AI models are used in state-sponsored cyberattacks, such attacks could become "much more complex," and their intensity would increase. He emphasized, "If AI is used effectively, the Japanese government's response capabilities could be enhanced."

The cabinet of Sanae Takaichi previously decided to allow the government to implement "proactive cyber defense" measures starting October 1, to preemptively eliminate the possibility of serious cyberattacks that could disrupt critical infrastructure, economic activities, and people's livelihoods. (Translated by Liu Lin and Yang Xinpeng)