New DOD Data, Analytics and AI Adoption Strategy set to enhance modern AI-enabled capabilities
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has recently released its 2023 DOD Data, Analytics, and AI Adoption Strategy. The comprehensive document, developed by the Chief Digital and AI Office (CDAO), brings together previous strategic guidance to expand advanced capabilities throughout the entire enterprise. The primary objective of the document is to accelerate the adoption of data, analytics, and AI (artificial intelligence) across all DOD Components in a consistent and reproducible manner.
Released by Kathleen Hicks, deputy secretary of defense, the strategy document builds upon the first DOD AI Strategy from 2018 and the revised DOD Data Strategy from 2020. These foundational documents have enhanced the DOD’s data-centric structures to improve the implementation of modern AI-enabled capabilities. Since the publication of these strategies, the industry has developed various tools, platforms, and services that facilitate decentralized data management, analytics, and AI development.
“We’ve worked tirelessly, for over a decade, to be a global leader in the fast and responsible development and use of AI technologies in the military sphere, creating policies appropriate for their specific uses,” Hicks said in a media statement. “As we’ve focused on integrating AI into our operations responsibly and at speed, our main reason for doing so has been straightforward: because it gives us an even better decision advantage than we already have today.”
“Accelerating the adoption of advanced data, analytics, and artificial intelligence technologies presents an unprecedented opportunity to equip Department leaders, at all levels, with the data they need, to make better decisions faster, from the boardroom to the battlefield,” according to Craig Martell, chief digital and AI officer. “Our strategic approach prioritizes an agile approach to adoption by focusing on the fundamentals of speed, agility, responsibility, and learning.”
The National Defense Strategy also describes the need for the U.S. to sustain and strengthen deterrence against strategic competitors. Accelerating the adoption of data, analytics, and AI will enable enduring decision advantage, allowing DOD leaders to prioritize investments to strengthen deterrence; link cross-cutting campaign outcomes that counter competitors’ coercive measures; and deploy continuous advancements in technological capabilities to address complex national security challenges in this decisive decade.
The CDAO worked closely with offices across the DOD to develop the 2023 Data, Analytics, and AI Adoption Strategy. Implementation will ensure that the DOD has stronger alignment and synchronization to scale advanced capabilities for use across the enterprise.
The strategy employs an agile approach to adoption that prioritizes speed of delivery, continuous learning, and responsible development, while accelerating the adoption of advanced data, analytics, and artificial intelligence technologies presents an unprecedented opportunity to equip DOD leaders at all levels with the data they need to make better decisions faster, from the boardroom to the battlefield.
It also realizes the full promise of data, analytics, and AI is not the exclusive responsibility of a single organization or program. It requires a concerted effort by every unit, leader, service member, and partners and allies across the globe. As a result of implementing this strategy, DOD leaders and warfighters will be able to make rapid, well-informed decisions by leveraging high-quality data, advanced analytics, and AI as part of a continuous, outcome-driven, and user-focused development, deployment, and feedback cycle.
The DOD’s agile approach to adoption ensures a ‘tight feedback’ loop between technology developers and users through a continuous cycle of iteration, innovation, and improvement of solutions that enable decision advantage. Practicing agility and learning by doing will accelerate deployment speed, measured in hours or days, not months or years. Creating effective, iterative feedback loops among developers, users, subject matter experts, and test and evaluation (T&E) experts will ensure capabilities are more stable, secure, ethical, and trustworthy.
“The Department will move toward greater integration, transparency, and knowledge sharing across organizational boundaries. Increased diffusion of data, analytics, and AI technologies will introduce technical vulnerabilities that require rigorous protection measures,” the publication identified. “These risks will be managed not by flawless forecasting, but by continuous deployment powered by campaigns of learning. Developing capability in this way enables responsibility, ensuring not only the sustained quality, stability, and security of DoD systems but also providing the means by which engineers can reduce unintended bias and instill justified confidence with their users.”
The strategy document identified that the DOD will focus strategic efforts on several interdependent goals that support the DOD AI Hierarchy of Needs. The AI Hierarchy of Needs is a pyramid with quality data as its foundation since all analytic and AI capabilities require trusted, high-quality data to support decision-makers. The next layer in the Hierarchy is insightful analytics and metrics, the foundational models and visualizations required for DOD leaders to understand their domain, and the key variables impacting outcomes in those domains.
At the top of the pyramid is Responsible AI, the DOD’s dynamic approach to the design, development, deployment, and use of AI capabilities following the DoD AI Ethical Principles while delivering better, faster insights and improved mission outcomes.
The layers of the Hierarchy are supported by sets of processes. Increased data quality and insightful analytics are achievable through effective enterprise data governance. Sound assurance processes for testing, evaluation, validation, and verification are imperative for Responsible AI. Around the pyramid are enablers, such as digital talent management, that help sustain the Hierarchy of Needs.
The Hierarchy is helpful as a framework for assessing DOD AI readiness, and for guiding the DOD’s goals to accelerate the adoption of data, analytics, and AI technologies to build enduring decision advantage. These interdependent goals, and their supporting activities and investments, cut across technology, human capital, process, and culture areas.
The CDAO will collaborate on implementation with Components through the CDAO Council, the senior leadership body that governs and coordinates the DOD’s integrated data, analytics, and AI enterprise.
For certain issues, the CDAO Council recommends decisions on data, analytics, and AI to the Deputy’s Management Action Group, the Deputy’s Innovation Steering Group, and the Deputy’s Workforce Council, the Strategy identified. “The CDAO will conduct an annual review of the Strategy and report results through the CDAO Council. The CDAO Council and supporting forums will ensure the exchange of challenges, lessons, and best practices gleaned from across the Department, and oversee initiatives for digital talent development, leadership, and culture as critical enablers,” it added.
The strategy’s learning-based, agile approach to adoption and emphasis on data quality also mitigate implementation risks. Though strategic success depends upon a high degree of decentralized execution, the CDAO Council and Component leaders can learn from one another and coordinate to manage critical dependencies among the goals in this strategy and parallel goals in other DOD strategies.
It detailed that as the warfighting use cases for analytics and AI technologies continue to expand, “we can expect our strategic competitors to field them to enhance their capabilities. Our adversaries will also continue to target U.S. technologies for theft and exploitation. Therefore, the Department will employ development approaches that allow us to move quickly, protect our advantages, and abide by our laws, policies, and values.”
The DOD also recognizes the privacy and civil liberties challenges posed by data, analytics, and AI capabilities and will establish transparent governance and compliance processes that address the full scope of these potential risks. By focusing on data governance and data quality for analytics and AI development, the DOD can mitigate certain risks, including the replication of unintended bias across the enterprise. Component leaders and technologists remain committed to the objectives of the DOD Responsible AI Strategy & Implementation Pathway and to developing AI capabilities that are responsible, equitable, traceable, reliable, and governable.
In conclusion, the DOD detailed its strategy’s approach embraces the need for speed, agility, learning, and responsibility. “Pursuing this agile approach and focusing activities on the goals outlined in the strategy will allow the Department to adopt data, analytics, and AI-enabled capabilities at the pace and scale required to build enduring decision advantage. If we confront our challenges holistically and refuse to accept the status quo, we will accelerate data, analytics, and AI adoption and continuously deploy creative solutions for the defense, security, and prosperity of the American people,” it added.
Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order to prioritize America’s role in harnessing the potential of AI and address associated risks. The Executive Order established new standards for AI safety and security, protects Americans’ privacy, and advances equity and civil rights. It also stands up for consumers and workers and promotes innovation and competition while advancing its position. With the Executive Order, the President requires that developers of the most powerful AI systems share their safety test results and other critical information with the U.S. government.
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