Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the announced increase in defence spending, what steps they are taking to research artificial intelligence technologies and encourage their implementation in defence programmes.

AI (and the autonomy it enables) has potential to transform every aspect of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Armed Forces. Rapid and scaled adoption of these technologies is a key Defence priority and significant work is underway across the Department, including over 400 AI-related projects and programmes.

MOD’s efforts to harness AI are cohered through the Defence AI Centre - a partnership between Defence Digital, Defence Equipment and Support and Dstl. Dstl’s Science and Technology research capabilities therefore underpin our approach to AI, helping to ensure that the MOD understand key technological developments while also developing the standards, tooling and Test and Evaluation capabilities to adopt and use AI-enabled systems safely and responsibly.