(NewsUSA) - The evolution and impact of AI, especially with respect to national security, is poorly understood, but the explosion of knowledge is unprecedented, according to Dr. Eric Schmidt, chair of the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP).

In a fireside chat on "Delivering the AI Advantage," at the year's AI + Expo, Dr. Schmidt discussed whether AI is over- or underhyped. "The arrival of this level of intelligence is an issue as historic as the invention of electricity," he said.

The 2025 AI+ Expo and The Exchange: Advancing the Legacy of Innovation and National Security was sponsored by the SCSP, a non-profit initiative focused on strengthening America's long-term competitiveness in AI and other emerging technologies. 

Dr. Schmidt noted the implications of AI in improving America's military advantage, with some recent successes and gaps where improvement is needed.

Success Story. Although the details are not publicly available, a recent project called Maven involved the creation of an open-source library that can be trained to look for certain things. "In the Pentagon, they spend a lot of time looking for things," and it is much smarter to have the computer looking and the human is alerted if it finds something, or detects a trend or pattern, he said.

Gaps: The expanded role of drones in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine highlights the need for more development of remote AI technology in the U.S., according to Schmidt. The war in Ukraine has become drone against drone, he said. By contrast, the U.S. does not as a nation have a good UAS counter drone, Schmidt added.

Looking ahead, the U.S. military needs to be proactive in taking advantage of AI, said Schmidt. His ideal defensive strategy would include two layers of drones, a high surveillance level with deep-looking cameras connected by an unjammable AI network, and other drones that could deploy bombers. With this kind of defensive system "it would be essentially impossible to invade a country by land," he said.

The key takeaway, Schmidt said, is that the military needs to use modern AI tools to plan defensive strategies. Companies in the U.S. are ready to take on this challenge, but need to establish and improve partnerships, he added.

Visit scsp.ai to learn more about SCSP and view other presentations from the AI + Expo.