Computers, AI, and US Military Power: Revisiting ‘The Closed World’
Seminar Computers, AI, and US Military Power: Revisiting ‘The Closed World’, held by Paul N. Edwards.
The seminar is organized by Centro Nexa su Internet & Società (DAUIN)
When: 7 May 2026 at 4,00 pm
Dove: In person: Conference room "Luigi Ciminiera" (5th floor) - Department of Control and Computer Engineering
Online at the link: https://didattica.polito.it/VClass/NexaEvent
Speaker: Paul N. Edwards, Stanford University and University of Michigan (USA)
ABSTRACT: Thirty years ago, The Closed World (Edwards, 1996) sketched the influence of Cold War US military strategy and funding on the history of computing, including artificial intelligence (AI). A major attempt to integrate AI into weapons systems fizzled during the 1980s, but also set directions for systems now in use and others that are coming.
This talk will briefly review The Closed World’s central argument before considering whether and how it may apply to the 21st century successes and failures of military AI, driven by the ever-increasing speed and stealth of modern weapons systems and their corollary, ever-shrinking decision times. Private-sector actors now market AI tools to the US, NATO, and other military forces. Major issues of accuracy, data quality, confidence, and human judgment affect AI-assisted weapons, tactics, and strategy.
What roles has AI played in recent conflicts involving the USA? Will the coming decade tighten the grip of globe-encompassing American military power, or bring it to an end?
BIO: Paul N. Edwards is Emeritus Director of the Program on Science, Technology & Society at Stanford University and Professor of Information and History (Emeritus) at the University of Michigan. He writes and teaches about the history, politics, and culture of information infrastructures. Edwards is the author of A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming (MIT Press, 2010) and The Closed World: Computers and the Politics of Discourse in Cold War America (MIT Press, 1996), and co-editor of Changing the Atmosphere: Expert Knowledge and Environmental Governance (MIT Press, 2001), as well as numerous articles. With Janet Vertesi, he co-edits the Infrastructures book series for MIT Press. Edwards now lives in Marseille, France.
More information:
- Contact Valeria Bergantino
- Link to the seminar
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