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Beast in the Machine: How Robotics and AI Will Transform Warfare and the Future of Human Conflict

2025

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Synopsis

The world is plunging into a new era of warfare dominated by robotic systems and artificial intelligence. As drones and other new weapons fill the headlines, militaries, governments, and concerned citizens are asking urgent questions about this emerging revolution. Author George M. Dougherty provides much-needed answers from a unique perspective as a senior military leader of US Air Force science and technology and a strategic business consultant to companies facing disruptive change in their industries.

Beast in the Machine offers a fascinating exploration of the future of combat. It takes the reader on a whirlwind journey through previously secret robotic combat missions from the World Wars to the War on Terror, and today’s lethal battlefields in Ukraine and beyond. With vivid examples and easy-to-understand explanations of emerging technologies, Dougherty reveals the trends driving change and helps us to anticipate and prepare for what comes next.

Informed by insider expertise as well as a humane moral perspective, Dougherty tackles this controversial subject head-on. In these pages, readers will learn:

How the revolution’s early stages are disrupting current conflicts and how its consequences will transform tomorrow’s global balance of power.

Why traditional military platforms like tanks, ships, and airplanes will be replaced by robotic systems that we may not recognize today.

How self-organizing drone units will make the “atmospheric littoral” the new key terrain.

What threats from military AI are more dangerous than all-powerful artificial intelligence.

How we can ensure the ethical use of robotic weapons and AI in combat.

Why the winners and losers of the new era may not be who we expect.

These fast-moving technologies are disrupting the military world, and with it, international stability and the balance of power. The US and other global democracies must navigate this disruptive era wisely, or risk becoming its victims. Beast in the Machine is a timely invitation for all of us to join the conversation on the future of human armed struggle . . . while there’s still time to shape what’s coming.

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