US Takes Stance in Patents by an Computer Using AI

In a previous effort I took a look at intellectual property law as used by the USAF.  What is noted here are initial rulings by US courts.  These, as it mentions, are being appealed.  Note that an oath has to be taken by a human in this case, what is the equivalent of a machine 'Oath' taken by an AI?   Continues to evolve by patent laws in other countries.

Only Humans, Not AI Machines, Get a U.S. Patent, Judge Rules

in Bloomberg, Susan Decker, September 3, 2021

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, VA, has ruled that only an actual human can be listed as an inventor on patents under U.S. law, while a computer using artificial intelligence (AI) cannot. Brinkema ruled that under federal law, an "individual," defined as a natural person, is required to take an oath that they are the inventor on a patent application. The case involved the Artificial Inventor Project at the U.K.'s University of Surrey, which has undertaken a global effort to have a computer named as an inventor. Courts in South Africa and Australia have ruled in the project's favor. University of Surrey's Ryan Abbott said the U.S. ruling will be appealed, along with those in the U.K. and Europe. Said Abbott, "We believe listing an AI as an inventor is consistent with both the language and purpose of the Patent Act."  ... ' 

USAF Autonomous Drone Skyborg Completes First Flight

Will continue to see more of this effort. 

US Air Force autonomous Drone Skyborg completes first flight,  by Sarah Katz , Tech Xplore

Last month, the United States Air Force successfully test flew an unnamed aerial vehicle (UAV) called Skyborg, operating on an autonomous hardware/software suite, for the very first time.

The military aims for this UAV to fuel collaboration among manned and unmanned aircraft. For its first test run, the Skyborg suite flew aboard a Kratos UTAP-22 Mako air vehicle in the first step of what's known as the Autonomous Attritable Aircraft Experimentation Campaign.  ... "

So what is an 'Attritable' weapon?  Reusable in general .....  

  ' ... Soaring unit costs for frontline military aircraft that have effectively reduced the size of U.S. fleets is forcing a shift to so-called “attritable” designs emphasizing lower-cost unmanned aircraft that can be reused at least several times with minimal maintenance.

The design philosophy—an apparent reference to the term “attrit,” as in wearing down an opponent via sustained attacks—is being driven by soaring procurement costs for modern weapons, most notably the poster child of out-of-control unit costs, the F-35 Lightning, that currently costs about $90 million a copy....' 

Using AI to Control a Military Jet

As described a considerable application, combining  autonomous signals and human decisions.

In a First, USAF Uses AI on Military Jet

The Washington Post  By Aaron Gregg

U.S. Air Force (USAF) officials said artificial intelligence (AI) was used for the first time on a military aircraft, when an algorithm called ARTUµ on Tuesday controlled radar and tactical navigation on a U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane during a training flight. USAF’s Josh Benedetti said ARTUµ intentionally lacked a manual override to "provoke thought and learning in the test environment." People involved in the test said the AI performed specific tasks while separated from the flight controls, which a human pilot handled. Assistant Air Force Secretary Will Roper said ARTUµ was trained against an opposing computer to scan for oncoming missile and missile launchers, and had the final say on where to orient the plane's sensors. ARTUµ is based on open source algorithms, and Roper said the purpose of test is "to shock the Air Force and the [Defense] Department as a whole into how seriously we need to treat AI teaming."

USAF Tests Robotics Security, Surveillance

Another inevitable move, for surveillance and implied force available.  As I have mentioned for other security examples of use, the robot-dogs look scary. 

US Air Force deploys robot security dogs to guard base but doesn't go full Terminator  In TheRegister

Iain Thomson in San Francisco 

In Brief Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida is now guarded by robotic canines that will patrol the area before popping back to their kennels for a recharge.

Over the past year the 325th Security Forces Squadron have been trialing the security robots via a so-called "3D Virtual Ops Center," where the hardware hounds patrol the grounds and feed back data to central command.

"These robot dogs will be used as a force multiplier for enhanced situational awareness by patrolling areas that aren’t desirable for human beings and vehicles," said Major Jordan Criss, 325th Security Forces Squadron commander.

"We will be able to drive them in a virtual reality headset within our Base Defense Operations Center. We will be able to see exactly what the robot dog is detecting through its mobile camera and sensor platform if desired, we will also be able to issue verbal commands to a person or people through a radio attached to the dogs."

No offensive capability has been built into these puppies, however, they're strictly monitoring only.  .... " 

USAF Looks at Blockchain Database for Data Share

Novel approach with implications for supply chain applications as well as other sensor based input of data.

U.S. Air Force to pilot blockchain-based database for data sharing

The blockchain ledger will enable data ingest from legacy data systems and wikis as well as a native web application build platforms
     
By Lucas Mearian Senior Reporter, Computerworld 

Successful Digital Transformation Requires a Modern Retail Network Infrastructure

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) is planning to test a blockchain-based graph database that will allow it to share documents internally as well as throughout the various branches of the Department of Defense and allied governments.

The permissioned blockchain ledger comes from a small Winston-Salem, N.C. start-up, Fluree PBC, which announced the government contract this week. Fluree is working with Air Force’s Small Business Innovation Research AFWERX technology innovation program to launch a proof of concept of the distributed ledger technology (DLT) later this year.

The ledger could include intelligence gathered during military operations and supply chain parts tracking.   ... "

Virtualitics for Insight Extraction

A company of interest for advanced data visualization.  We worked with them in the Enterprise.

Virtualitics Selected fof the Air Force Strategic $7 Million Award
March 16, 2020 By Amy Gunzenhauser

Virtualitics is pleased to announce that it has been selected for the Air Force’s first ever Strategic Fund Increase (STRATFI) award through AF Ventures. The $7 million contract will enable Virtualitics to provide our groundbreaking AI data analytics software, Virtualitics Immersive Platform (VIP), to Air Force Global Strike Command to help airmen solve pressing data challenges in the U.S. strategic bomber fleet.

The award was announced by the Secretary of the Air Force, Barbara Barrett, and Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, Dr. Will Roper, at the Air Force’s virtual “Pitch Bowl” event.

Dr. Roper has described the winners of the STRATFI award as companies providing “game-changing” technologies to the Air Force. “The thing that we’re working on now is the big bets, the 30 to 40 big ideas, disruptive ideas that can change our mission and hopefully change the world,” Roper said. “We’re looking for those types of companies.”

Virtualitics is proud to be one of the “big bet” startups the Air Force is counting on to preserve the U.S. military’s technological advantage.

Receiving the STRATFI award at the Pitch Bowl culminates an impressive trend of recent Department of Defense contracts for Virtualitics. Virtualitics is the only commercial startup to win contract awards at the Air Force’s first ever Space Pitch Day and the F-35 Pitch Day, in addition to the STRATFI. Winning the “triple crown” of contract awards at the Air Force’s seminal innovation events is a clear indication of product-market fit for our solution in the DoD.

We are very proud of our work with the DoD. We have found great satisfaction in helping our men and women in uniform unlock actionable insights in their data...."