Optimizing Innovation With AI-Powered Innovation Speeds
Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into the digital transformation of the U.S. Army is a key challenge for addressing the future of defense.
One of the key aspects of proper AI-powered digital transformation is increasing the speed of innovation and optimizing budgets.
“It's going to get us to delivery of the right products at less cost faster,” said Jennifer Swanson, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for data, engineering and software.
Addressing the challenges and opportunities in the digital transformation and AI integration within the U.S. Army, a TechNet Augusta panel touched on the need for careful consideration of AI's applications, particularly in the importance of secure AI systems.
There is also necessity to develop adaptable, modular, AI systems that can integrate with existing military technology, while also ensuring these tools are scalable and relevant across different Army units. The speakers underscored the importance of collaboration between the government and industry, as well as the need for a common language in AI discussions to streamline development and implementation processes.
“I appreciate the direction we're headed in terms of modularity of acquisition. There are lots of pieces of things that the Army does that we're really passionate about being part of, but we probably shouldn't be in charge of hardly any whole things,” said Mik Wimbrow, senior director, U.S. Army at Microsoft Federal.
Wimbrow stressed the government should own the architecture and set the standards. With an open space to offer solutions, “it just makes it more tractable for us to be interested in pieces of it,” Wimbrow told the audience at AFCEA’s TechNet Augusta on Wednesday.
Prioritizing the use of AI could be challenging, as the hype around it encourages many to employ it in areas where it may not be mature enough.
“Those problems that no senior leader is ever going to hear about are great for AI,” said Alex Adamczyk, vice president, Advanced Analytics and AI at LMI.
The discussion that ensued prompted panelists to recognize how the integration into prediction for logistics, as well as speeding experimentation optimize supply processes.
It's going to get us to delivery of the right products at less cost faster.
Where data does not exist yet, one participant argued about adaptation from similar activities.
“The thing that we need to look at, though, is there are cases where, depending on the task, there are certain custom data that needs to be referenced as a part of the solution,” said Kunaal Sharma, public sector lead at Anthropic.
The panel, addressing military and industry leaders, touched on the issue of establishing a common lexicon when speaking about innovation.
“Within the space of AI, we need to do the same things,” Swanson stressed.
Christopher Orlowski, associate director, Land Systems at Anduril, also participated in the panel Acquisition Program: Future Focus at the yearly event.
