{"id":18649,"date":"2022-01-10T20:48:07","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T20:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2022\/01\/10\/inspector-general-criticizes-documentation-on-pentagons-artificial-intelligence-project\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:01:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:01:36","slug":"inspector-general-criticizes-documentation-on-pentagons-artificial-intelligence-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/artificial-intelligence\/2022\/01\/10\/inspector-general-criticizes-documentation-on-pentagons-artificial-intelligence-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspector General criticizes documentation on Pentagon\u2019s artificial intelligence project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The Pentagon did not adequately document work on its flagship artificial intelligence effort according to a government watchdog report, increasing the risks of lapses in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Defense\u2019s inspector general evaluated whether the government monitored contacts in accordance with federal laws and policy for Project Maven<\/a>, which aimed to accelerate the integration of big data and machine learning. It is frequently held up as the poster child for how DoD is using AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army Contracting Command and the Army Research Laboratory partnered with the Pentagon\u2019s Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team<\/a> to support AI development and award four contracts and a cooperative agreement for Project Maven. ECS Federal scored three of the contracts, with Morse Corporation securing the fourth and Carnegie Mellon University receiving a cooperative agreement. These contracts were awarded between September 2018 and February 2020 to address a problem set related to Project Maven\u2019s objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inspector general found that all government organizations involved successfully monitored and managed Project Maven\u2019s cooperative agreement and four contracts, using reporting, metrics, processes and procedures to ensure companies met pre-determined deliverables set by the cross-functional team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the cross functional team did not document its approach formalizing those efforts, which the inspector general said could lead to an increased risk of lapses in the monitoring and management of contracts as the program grows and personnel change. Furthermore, lack of documentation could negatively impact long-term success and growth of the project, especially as the DoD looks to expand its AI and machine learning efforts to compete with sophisticated nation states. These future efforts might not benefit from lessons learned if they aren\u2019t documented, the redacted report stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project Maven had already suffered a high profile controversy early on, when Google dropped out of the project following backlash from employees who did not want to be associated with warfare technology. The issue became a larger problem for DoD as it sought to woo tech firms in Silicon Valley to help it leverage the latest and most advanced technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DoD\u2019s inspector general\u2019s office offered two recommendations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n