December 21, 2017
Project Maven brings AI to the fight against ISIS
Maven is designed to be that pilot project, that pathfinder, that spark that kindles the flame front of artificial intelligence across the rest of the [Defense] Department.
- Air Force Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, November 2017
For years, the Defense Department’s most senior leadership has lamented the fact that US military and spy agencies, where artificial intelligence (AI) technology is concerned, lag far behind state-of-the-art commercial technology. Though US companies and universities lead the world in advanced AI research and commercialization, the US military still performs many activities in a style that would be familiar to the military of World War II.
As of this month, however, that has begun to change. Project Maven is a crash Defense Department program that was designed to deliver AI technologies—specifically, technologies that involve deep learning neural networks—to an active combat theater within six months from when the project received funding. Most defense acquisition programs take years or even decades to reach the battlefield, but technologies developed through Project Maven have already been successfully deployed in the fight against ISIS. Despite their rapid development and deployment, these technologies are getting strong praise from their military intelligence users. For the US national security community, Project Maven’s frankly incredible success foreshadows enormous opportunities ahead—as well as enormous organizational, ethical, and strategic challenges.
Read the full commentary in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
More from CNAS
-
DeepSeek DeepDive + Hands-On With Operator + Hot Mess Express!
Podcast
ChinaTalks’ Jordan Schneider, adjunct fellow of the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, joins to explain the Chinese A.I. indus...
By Jordan Schneider
-
Trump Should Support European AI Allies
Commentary
As the US assesses its technology relationship with Europe, Poland and the Baltic states operating could be strong partners in addressing the administration’s concerns about E...
By Pablo Chavez
-
Why Everyone Is Talking About China’s DeepSeek
Podcast
Over the weekend, Silicon Valley had a collective freakout. A Chinese company called DeepSeek released a new artificial intelligence model on par with American rivals, and app...
By Bill Drexel
-
PONI Live Debate: AI Integration in NC3
Video
Dr. Paul Scharre, executive vice president and director of studies at the Center for New American Security joins in a live debate moderated to discuss AI Integration in NC3. ...
By Paul Scharre
