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For example, if a navy vessel is expecting a helicopter to land on the ship, the captain would normally give the order to prepare for landing to a sailor who would then relay the instruction throughout the ship.

The Boatswain’s Mate voice assistant is being designed to replace the sailor who would normally receive those verbal instructions, instead relaying the commands through the ship’s onboard computer system.

“A lot of that today is done with a commanding officer asking a boatswain’s mate to do this, then that boatswain’s mate has to understand the approach, then pipe the command, then write it on a piece of paper and audit everything,” said Charbel Safadi, AI leader for IBM Canada.

Safadi said running these commands through a computer system instead creates a data log that can be audited later, and it frees up a sailor who would otherwise be responsible for relaying instructions from the commanding officer.

While the Boatswain’s Mate is being designed for the bridge of a warship, potentially for use in actual combat situations, the intent is more similar to a private business trying to reduce the need for workers through the use of new technology.

But the project comes at a time when militaries around the world are figuring out how best to deploy AI technologies while navigating the thorny ethical issues that come with them.

In particular, Donovan said the navy is being careful to steer clear of the dilemmas raised by the potential of linking AI with lethal weapons systems.