Topline: The Department of Defense doesn’t know how it will use artificial intelligence in its daily operations, despite receiving $1.8 billion for that purpose in this year’s budget.
Key facts: The Pentagon has invested billions of dollars since 2018 to explore how to use AI for tasks traditionally completed by humans. AI could potentially operate deadly weapons, analyze surveillance data, increase business efficiency and more.
But according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the DOD still “can’t fully identify” exactly how it plans to use AI now or in the future. There is currently no way for the DoD to know which human positions can or will be replaced with AI or estimate how much additional funding is needed.
That means the DoD may not meet its goal of being AI-ready by 2025, and billions of taxpayer dollars will have been inefficiently spent.
The Pentagon has been issuing written plans to its workers explaining how AI will be integrated into the workforce. But some of the documents do not even directly reference AI, according to the GAO.
The written plans are also inconsistent in their wording. For example, one plan uses the term “critical technology” to reference AI, while another uses “digital talent,” and so on. The GAO says, “this could prevent a common department-wide understanding of AI workforce strategic goals and objectives.”
Background: Last June, the GAO reported that the Pentagon did not have department-wide guidance on what kinds of AI software should be developed and purchased.
That led to a slow procurement process that hurt AI goals overall; by the time new technologies were acquired, they were already outdated.
However, spending continues to increase. China has been spending a much greater percentage of its military budget on AI research, leaving defense experts concerned that America will fall behind.
Critical quote: Alexandr Wang — the CEO of Scale AI, a private firm that creates technology for the Pentagon — spoke about inefficient AI spending in a recent House of Representatives hearing.
“AI systems are only as good as the data that they are trained on,” Wang said. “The DoD creates more than 22 terabytes of data daily, and because of their outdated data retention and management policies, warfighters, analysts, and operators are unable to tap into its full potential because it is not AI-ready.”
Summary: With the U.S. accounting for 40% of the world’s defense spending, our military should reflect the world’s latest technological advancements. Poor financial planning at the Pentagon seems to be impeding that plan.
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