GUEST BLOG: How the DoD can win the AI race
BlogNovember 25, 2024
Logan Schraeder
FirePoint Innovations
Despite the recent surge in military spending on artificial intelligence (AI), the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is still falling behind its adversaries in leveraging this groundbreaking capability for national defense. Not only is China beginning to outpace the U.S. in both AI investment and innovation, but the DoD is also struggling to compete with the private sector in the war for talent.
With the DoD spending $4.3 billion on AI – causing AI spending by all other agencies to become what a recent Brookings Institution report called “a rounding error” – it’s not the lack of financial investment that’s holding the U.S. back. Instead, we risk losing the edge in AI because we don’t have the personnel infrastructure or the culture to make the most of the technology once we have it.
To successfully compete in the AI space, the DoD must shift away from the legacy culture and infrastructure that stymies agility and innovation. Following are five strategies for a winning DoD AI strategy that have more to do with culture than technology.
- Revamp the talent infrastructure. While there’s no doubt the DoD should do all it can to develop AI talent, it must also figure out how to receive the talent that’s already emerging. Enrollment in AI training programs is rising, but there’s no clear career pathway for an AI or machine learning (ML) specialist to bring that skill to the defense sector either as a uniformed soldier or civil servant; there’s simply no job classification for it in the current taxonomy. The Army Futures Command has developed an Additional Skill Identifier (ASI) to highlight these specialized skills, but it has yet to be embraced by the larger Army and the Joint Force, and that must become a priority. Even if we recruit the best AI talent in the world, it will be for naught if there’s nowhere for them to really apply their skills.
- Prioritize continuing education. Nearly a third of federal defense leaders said in a survey that workforce challenges are a stumbling block for adopting new technologies. In fact, military enlistment has been declining; with high demand for AI talent in private-sector tech companies, the DoD must continue to evolve in order to compete. That evolution means prioritizing education benefits, continuing education, and a meaningful path forward for service members after their enlistment ends. Professional development is a priority for today’s job seekers, but tuition assistance is often one of the first line items to get cut from the DoD budget every year. In order to attract and retain AI talent, the DoD must adapt its policies, organizational politics, and mission requirements to provide meaningful upskilling, education vouchers, and continuing education opportunities.
- Upgrade legacy systems. Across the DoD, Industrial Age infrastructure is trying to adapt to Information Age demands. The current platforms are a severe disappointment to most young recruits who already use more advanced technology to do their homework. So much DoD hardware is antiquated, which makes compatibility with new solutions sometimes impossible – you’d be pressed to develop a meaningful AI model on the typical military standard-issue Toughbook. The DoD desperately needs upgraded, agile technology on par with what’s available in the commercial sector in order to integrate these new tools much faster and attract people who want to work on the latest systems. While DoD’s acquisition systems are improving with Other Transaction Authority (OTA) contracts and other methods, these improvements should be part of a continual evolution, not the end of the line.
- Accelerate tech transfer. AI development is booming in the private sector with unprecedented new capabilities being brought to market with incredible potential in DoD applications. But technology transfer can be extremely slow, with complex hurdles preventing agile startups from connecting with government procurement systems. Upstart companies that do strive for DoD contracts often get mired in the red tape and end up wasting resources they could be spending to secure commercial partnerships with faster ROI. The DoD must prioritize participation in networked innovation programs like the Great Plains Mission Acceleration Center (MAC), MAC National Network, and Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) On-Ramp Hubs and do better leveraging organizations across the joint modernization ecosystem – like Army Futures Command and the Office of Naval Research – to form strategic partnerships between civilian innovators and the DoD. These collaborations will help lower the barrier to entry and get prototypes into the field faster.
- Teach the teachers. A GovTech report says that more than 70% of K-12 educators do not have the training and resources to teach their students how to use AI effectively. Often there’s a good chance their students are more advanced than the instructors are in using it, but likely also lack knowledge of AI’s risks, nuances, and limitations. The country as a whole has an opportunity to invest in raising the next generation of AI experts by teaching their teachers how to integrate AI into their classrooms, instruct students about its caveats and responsible use, and begin exploring applications and career opportunities, including military service.
There’s no doubt AI provides a greatly expanded tool set for the modern warfighter. The ability to receive, interpret, and make intelligent decisions is among the most decisive factors in war throughout history, and AI has the ability to help the military do that at a level never seen before. But while having the right technology is vital, it also needs the right people, approach, and culture to make it a seamless and meaningful part of U.S. strategic defense capabilities.
Today’s incoming service members are growing up with Amazon Alexa at home and using ChatGPT for their homework, and we have yet to see what the Future Force’s recruits will grow up with. In the same way we outfitted GWOT [Global War on Terror]-era explosive ordnance disposal units with Xbox controllers to create an intuitive interface for operators, the DoD must now adapt its systems to meet today’s enlistee expectations. That reality means modernizing not only the technology it uses but also shifting its culture to welcome ground-up innovation, troop-level input, and battlefield improvisation.
Logan Schraeder is Research Manager – FVL & Autonomy at FirePoint Innovations.
FirePoint Innovations https://www.firepoint.info/
