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Artificial Intelligence for Air Operations

Top researchers at MIT will help the U.S. Air Force harness advanced algorithms and systems.

A new agreement between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the U.S. Air Force is meant to accelerate the use of artificial intelligence in Air Force operations. Credit: Shutterstock/Yousif Al Saif

On May 23 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, known as MIT, announced that it had signed an agreement with the U.S. Air Force to carry out fundamental research on artificial intelligence.

The MIT-Air Force AI Accelerator program is aimed at bringing rapid prototyping, scalability and the use of advanced algorithms and systems into Air Force operations.

“MIT and the U.S. Air Force have signed an agreement to launch a new program designed to make fundamental advances in artificial intelligence that could improve Air Force operations while also addressing broader societal needs,” a university official stated.

The MIT-Air Force AI Accelerator program will be part of the university’s new Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing. The program will be housed in MIT’s Beaver Works facility. The university official also explained that the program could include faculty, staff and students from any of the five of MIT schools, and that the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, a federally funded research and development center, would offer its facilities and resources in support of the program.

Although the terms of the agreement were not disclosed, MIT reported that “the Air Force plans to invest approximately $15 million per year as it builds upon its five-decade relationship with MIT.”