James Lacey
Similar to the arrival of the technologically advanced Borg in Star Trek, Artificial Intelligence has arrived within the hallowed halls of professional military education, leaving resistance as futile. Thus, this article is not intended to persuade those who remain skeptical about the AI invasion. For, at the risk of sounding overly harsh, they have opted for obsolescence, and their opinions are no longer relevant. As their final denouement approaches, they will, undoubtedly, still be shouting “AI is killing critical thinking” as they are pushed into history’s trash bin.
In an earlier article, “Peering into the Future of Artificial Intelligence in the Military Classroom,” I stated that AI would not replace Title 10 professors, but that many professors would be replaced by professors who are comfortable with AI tools. I no longer believe that statement to be true. AI advances in just the last six months have made it an existential risk to all but a few Title 10 professors. We are rapidly entering an educational environment where only those who master human-AI teaming are likely to survive.
We are already living in a world where 85% of college students admit to regularly using AI, where high schoolers are writing in The Atlantic about AI “demolishing” their education, and parents are finding AI cheat sheets in their grade schoolers’ laundry. If we can assume that PME students are at least as clever as a grade-schooler, we must also accept that every one of them is, or soon will be, using AI throughout the academic year. Moreover, given the speed at which AI is being integrated into the administrative and warfighting infrastructure of every Service, educators have a duty to ensure that their students are as familiar with AI tools as possible.
This cheat sheet was found in a grade-schooler’s laundry (author provided).
Although the full integration of AI into professional military education is inevitable, many schools, as well as their faculties, remain hesitant to incorporate AI into coursework or research. Even those who pay lip service to increasing AI use within PME are all too eager to throw up roadblocks. For instance, in a recent War on the Rocks article (23 October 2025), “A Guide to Collaborating With AI in the Military Classroom, Matthew Woessner opened with, “If educators do not learn to embrace AI, they risk being left behind.” I fully agree with this sentiment but was then amazed to find that the remainder of the article was a litany of reasons for schools and educators to slow down AI integration in favor of a “middle way.”
No comments:
Post a Comment