FGV’s president gives speech for MBA in Artificial Intelligence for Military Applications

On September 25, the president of Fundação Getulio Vargas, Professor Carlos Ivan Simonsen Leal, alongside the Commander-in-Chief of the Brazilian Marine Corps, Admiral Carlos Braga, gave a lecture to students from the first class of the MBA in Artificial Intelligence for Military Applications. As well as outlining FGV’s knowledge of the subject, the meeting aimed to gather the students’ first impressions of the program. They spoke about the projects they are developing for their end-of-course paper and pointed out positive points and areas for improvement in the courses that could be applied to future editions of the MBA program.

During his speech, Professor Simonsen Leal highlighted how data science applied to artificial intelligence has been progressing at FGV in four stages. “The first stage is data governance, which is fundamental. You need to have an iron discipline, because everything needs to be detailed, as you do with metadata, for example, explaining what the data is, who collected it, when they collected it, and so on. Then, secondly, we move on to exploratory data analysis, when we also accumulate information and process incoming and outgoing data, helping us try to discover what is not being observed. This stage helps us measure and estimate risks, for example, by allowing us to set up models and find correlations. In the third stage, we come to generative intelligence, when we simulate things we didn’t know, starting from a general hypothesis and highlighting parameters that govern the system, and then testing it by expanding these parameters. Finally, we come to one of the ideal applications, which is to use the process to optimize the use of scarce resources in different situations and contexts,” he said.

Admiral Carlos Braga stressed how data science is now interconnected with modern combat, underscoring the relevance of the MBA program. “We are training young officers with skills in this subject, of a quality that has exceeded my best expectations. Moreover, it has been tremendously productive for them to do the MBA alongside civilians from FGV, getting to know academia and those who are studying these topics in depth,” he said.

The students, in mixed pairs made up of military personnel (marines) and civilians (FGV), are developing the following end-of-course papers:

• The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Current Conflicts: The Use of AI in Information Operations;
• Artificial Intelligence Applications in the Military Planning Process;
• The Use of Artificial Intelligence to Benefit the Brazilian Navy’s Nuclear, Biological, Chemical and Radiological Defense System;
• Development and Training of a Chatbot to Optimize Operational Documents in the General Staff Sections of an Infantry Battalion;
• Artificial Intelligence Applied to Logistics in Operations.

About the course

Structured through a partnership between FGV Projetos, FGV EMAp and FGV DTI for the Brazilian Navy, the MBA in Artificial Intelligence for Military Applications is taught as part of the Advanced Training Course for Brazilian Navy Marine Corps Officers. This course is made up of strictly military training modules plus training modules in complementary technical areas, the latter deliver through partnerships with higher education institutions. The syllabus covers topics that have the potential to help officers develop analytical and critical thinking skills, improve their understanding of the operational environment and automate tasks. This knowledge can be applied comprehensively to decision-making routines, operational efficiency and specific intelligence, planning, logistics, and command & control activities.