Non-Profit Organization Recommends Creating Generative AI Experimentation Unit Within the Department of Defense

The Special Competitive Studies Project is calling for the creation of a Defense Experimentation Unit to accelerate the adoption of generative artificial intelligence capabilities for defense applications.

The proposal is one of the SCSP’s recommendations in a white paper titled “Memo to the President and Congress on the Adoption of Generative Artificial Intelligence for Military Purposes.” According to the paper, the DEU would employ an “iterative and continuous process of experimentation, learning, and development” of AI models for various U.S. military missions to enable faster deployment of new AI technologies across the Joint Force, DefenseScoop reported.

The non-profit organization said the DEU can achieve continuous AI exploration by creating a generative AI sandbox environment accessible to all DOD components. The organization also suggested developing new generative AI capabilities for use in the sandbox environment and setting up feedback mechanisms to share lessons learned from experiments with the entire defense organization in a quick and consistent manner.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt heads SCSP. Schmidt previously was the commissioner of the now-defunct National Security Commission on AI and the inaugural chair of the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Board.