Artificial intelligence pact signed between AFWERX and Arize AI
NewsAugust 13, 2025
BERKELEY, Calif. Artificial intelligence (AI) engineering firm Arize AI won a $1.2 million contract from AFWERX for a Direct-to-Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) to conduct a 12–month R&D-focused effort on AI engineering capabilities for large-language model (LLM) AI enhancement to address the most pressing challenges in the U.S. Air Force.
Arize AI, according to the announcement, will provide an R&D AI engineering platform aimed at strengthening the U.S. national defense by accelerating the deployment of powerful generative AI applications such as agentic AI and RAG-based use cases [RAG stands for "retrieval-augmented generation," which provides context to LLMs.
NIPRGPT is a nonclassified prototype large language model (LLM) authorized at Impact Level 5 (IL5), developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory for the Department of the Air Force's Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) workloads that gives users a ChatGPT-like experience with the ability to maintain chat history, enabling critical assessments of the feasibility and security of deploying Generative AI on the Non-classified Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRNet). NIPRGPT provides valuable insights into technical challenges, security implications, and operational benefits, which can assist the Air Force in the secure and ethical adoption of commercial AI technologies.
The Arize AX R&D effort promises to help NIPRGPT by automating prompt engineering and online evaluation within CAC/NIPRNet constraints with metrics for quality, safety, efficiency, and compliance so that users and leaders can see what works in practice. Insights from user feedback and key operational telemetry metrics will inform future policy, acquisition, and investment decisions across the Air Force.
