Because of AI’s potential to adapt in response to the phenomena it encounters, when two AI weapons systems are deployed against each other, neither side is likely to have a precise understanding of the results their interaction will generate or their collateral effects. They may discern only imprecisely the other’s capabilities and penalties for entering into a conflict. For engineers and builders, these limitations may put premiums on speed, breadth of effects, and endurance—attributes that may make conflicts more intense and widely felt, and above all, more unpredictable.
