Arlington, VA | October 7, 2026 — The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies announces a new entry in its Forum Paper series, Machine Learning & <a href="https://myappsplus.com/rapid-city-council-delays-vote-on-artificial-intelligence-policy/" title="Rapid City council delays vote on artificial intelligence policy”>Artificial Intelligence in Military Operations: The Imperative of Human Judgment
by Maj Gen Thomas D. Taverney, USAF (Ret.).
Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) offer unprecedented opportunities to improve military effectiveness, speed, and situational awareness. However, as these systems become more capable, the risks associated with autonomous decision-making increase significantly. The most responsible path forward is not to remove humans entirely from military decision-making, but to determine when it remains appropriate, necessary, or operationally relevant.
Human judgment remains essential for interpreting context, applying ethical principles, understanding strategic implications, and exercising accountability. The purpose of this paper is to encourage discussion about how the United States can aggressively exploit the military advantages of AI while preserving human judgment where the consequences demand it.
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