No 'magical pixie dust': DoD's AI exec says driving high quality data is main priority - Breaking Defense

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer (CDAO) initially thought his occupation would entail producing tools for the Defense Department to bash modeling, but implicit his archetypal fewer months connected the occupation his priorities person shifted alternatively to “driving precocious prime data.” 

“Why bash I judge driving precocious prime information is the astir important? Well, archetypal of each we person monolithic amounts of data…distributed each implicit the world,” Craig Martell said Tuesday astatine the DIA DoDIIS Worldwide Conference successful San Antonio, TX. “Some information of that information is going to beryllium truly effectual for determination making astatine standard and different parts of that information is going to beryllium wholly ineffective for determination making. And truthful a ample portion of our occupation is figuring retired the ways to negociate that data, truthful that the information that’s effectual for determination making is beforehand and halfway for determination makers erstwhile they request it.”

The CDAO bureau “originally thought our job…was to nutrient tools for those successful the authorities to bash modeling. We nary longer deliberation that’s the case,” Martell said, due to the fact that it’s not folks successful DoD who are gathering retired the existent models.

“What’s going to beryllium the lawsuit precise overmuch much often is folks successful the Department are going to spell to contractors and accidental ‘I request a model,'” helium said.

Martell added that his bureau wants to assistance “getting labeled information close and being capable to show the exemplary aft deployment.” To that point, his bureau wants to physique a “scaffolding” astir those models, which would beryllium built by manufacture and academia, that would assistance folks physique and usage them. 

“No vendor is going to statement your information for you,” helium said. “So it’s incumbent upon america arsenic a centralized protagonist of AI successful the section to springiness you the tools, abilities, and consulting, to beryllium capable to physique that labeled information truthful that you tin manus it to industry, and they tin physique a exemplary that works for you.”

Martell, who was named DoD’s archetypal CDAO earlier this year, told Breaking Defense successful an exclusive archetypal interrogation April 21 that DoD could payment from hiring idiosyncratic with his manufacture inheritance “who knows however to bring existent AI and analytical worth astatine standard and speed.”

During his remarks connected Tuesday, Martell said what astir radical deliberation and request of AI is “magical pixie dust.”

“What they’re truly saying is, excuse my language, ‘Damn, I person a truly hard occupation and wouldn’t it beryllium awesome if a instrumentality could lick it for me?’ helium said. “But what we truly tin present successful lieu of that — due to the fact that I’m present to archer you that we can’t present magical pixie dust, atrocious — but what we tin present is truly precocious prime data.” 

As CDAO, Martell plays a key role successful the Pentagon’s Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) effort (his bureau has been tasked with creating a “data integration layer”) and different cardinal AI and unreality efforts successful the department, including the precocious awarded Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract.

“I’m truly looking guardant to JWCC…We can’t bash what we privation to bash without a truly large unreality situation astatine the tactical edge,” Martell said. “So I’m truly looking guardant to JWCC.”

During a Dec. 8 property briefing pursuing the JWCC declaration awards, DoD Chief Information Officer John Sherman said he’s “working closely” with Martell connected the unreality effort.