DoD Official Touts AI’s Benefits for Military Decision-Making

Artificial intelligence will revolutionize how the Department of Defense leaders make decisions, according to a top AI official.

Lt. Gen. Michael Groen, director of the department's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, said combatant commanders will particularly benefit from the analytical capabilities of AI, Nextgov reported. 

He said that while combatant commanders are excellent decision-makers themselves, they can sometimes be overwhelmed by the amount of incoming information, resulting in inefficient calls. 

“That’s how you wind up with a lance corporal sitting in the middle of nowhere going ‘ok what idiot told us to go here and why? That's the result of seat-of-the-pants decision-making based on imperfect information," Groen added. 

The three-star general urged incoming DoD leaders to continue prioritizing the fielding of AI even after the coronavirus pandemic negatively impacted the department's budget prospects.

Both DoD leaders and lawmakers have been pushing for a wider range of AI technologies across the department. 

Top defense officials recently affirmed plans to make the JAIC more widely support the disparate AI efforts across the Pentagon and the military services. 

Groen previously highlighted the JAIC's Joint Common Foundation, a new platform envisioned to serve as an AI development space powered by cloud tools, including the Air Force's Cloud One and the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure.

JAIC Spokesman Arlo Abrahamson said the JFC "will provide an AI development environment to test, validate and field AI capabilities at scale across the Department of Defense. 

In October, House Armed Services Committee member Anthony Brown recommended making AI development a mandatory component of all future major defense programs. 

He said the DoD needs to aggressively field AI and remove outdated platforms to achieve its modernization goals.

"This might require significant changes to the Pentagon’s force structure, our posture, operational plans and surely to the acquisition system. But now is the time," Brown said during a Brookings virtual event.