DOD Unveils New AI Roadmap Focusing on Agile Technology Adoption

The Department of Defense issued on Thursday its 2023 Data, Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Adoption Strategy focused on agility and speed in AI development and application. The improved decision-making advantage that an agile AI approach delivers is the strategy’s main driver, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks commented in unveiling the new blueprint. 

The Chief Digital and AI Office developed the new AI roadmap to build upon and supplant the 2018 and 2020 blueprints and lay the path for future integration of emerging AI technologies, the DOD said.

The strategy targets five specific decision advantages in the U.S. warfighters’ AI deployment, with battlespace awareness superiority, adaptive force planning and application and efficient enterprise business operations among them. 

The blueprint also focuses on several data, analytics and AI-related objectives, such as investing in interoperable infrastructure, expanding digital talent management and improving foundational data management.  

Craig Martell, the DOD’s chief digital and AI officer, said the strategy does not pinpoint AI-enabled warfighting capabilities but rather seeks to strengthen the organizational environment for the continued deployment of data analytics and AI capabilities.