{"id":22343,"date":"2018-12-19T20:56:04","date_gmt":"2018-12-19T20:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2018\/12\/19\/how-dod-is-getting-serious-about-artificial-intelligence\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:11:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:11:36","slug":"how-dod-is-getting-serious-about-artificial-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/c2-comms\/2018\/12\/19\/how-dod-is-getting-serious-about-artificial-intelligence\/","title":{"rendered":"How DoD is getting serious about artificial intelligence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pentagon leaders have tapped Air Force Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan to serve as the head of a new center that will focus on the use of artificial intelligence in the Department of Defense, multiple officials confirmed to C4ISRNET.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shanahan\u2019s move to JAIC was first reported by Defense One<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The appointment is part of a series of moves by the Department of Defense to get serious about the broader adoption of artificial intelligence as competitors make significant investments in the technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite several efforts to use advanced algorithms and AI throughout the department, the Pentagon is creating the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) to synchronize these efforts and accelerate the delivery of AI capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOther nations, particularly China and Russia, are making significant investments in AI for military purposes,\u201d Dana Deasy, the Defense Department\u2019s chief information officer, wrote in testimony to Congress Dec. 11<\/a>. \u201cThese investments threaten to erode our technological and operational advantages and destabilize the free and open international order. The Department of Defense, together with our allies and partners, must adopt AI to maintain its strategic position, prevail on future battlefields, and safeguard this order.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deasy, to date, has led JAIC and spearheaded the Pentagon\u2019s AI efforts. But Shanahan is expected to assume that mantle. Shanahan has been leading Project Maven, which sought to use AI and machine learning to more quickly process full motion video in the fight against ISIS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLt. Gen. Shanahan’s appointment to run the Joint AI Center is a clear sign that DoD is taking artificial intelligence seriously,\u201d Paul Scharre, senior fellow and director of the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, told C4ISRNET. \u201cShanahan has a proven track record of delivering success as head of DoD’s Project Maven. The institutionalization and expansion of these early efforts into the new Joint AI Center, under Shanahan’s lead, will help ensure that DoD is well-positioned to capitalize on the advantages of the AI revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deasy wrote in testimony that the department\u2019s AI approach has been directly influencing by Project Maven, which \u201chas been successful in identifying and beginning to address key challenges with integrating AI into operations and has put in place an initial set of data, tools, and infrastructure for AI delivery, as well as initial templates for acquisition, testing and evaluation, operational assessment, and more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The center will work to develop capabilities in the near-term while also complementing the efforts of the undersecretary for research and engineering in longer-term efforts, Deasy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t