Accelerating the Pace of AI for National Security at CDAO

The speaker discusses the importance of getting data right for successful implementation of AI in the Department of Defense. They also highlight the need for integrating cutting-edge technologists into the defense industrial base and the potential of AI in logistics.

• AI is happening massively across the Department of Defense, but getting the data right allows for building a Marketplace that does AI correctly
• Integrating cutting-edge technologists into the defense industrial base is crucial for successful implementation of AI
• Reinforcement learning techniques can be applied to logistics challenges in the Department of Defense for massive taxpayer impact

The speaker mentions that the Department of Defense has more assets under management than Google, Walmart, and Apple combined, and their logistics challenges are orders of magnitude more difficult. They emphasize the potential of robust logistic solutions, even if they save a small percentage, to have a massive taxpayer impact.

Dr. Craig Martell recently transitioned from a well-paying industry job as Head of Machine Learning at Lyft to the new Chief Digital and AI Officer at CDAO. Drawn by the mission, Dr. Martell brings a wealth of AI experience and business experience that he hopes will help increase the pace of technology adoption.Dr. Martell will join Alexandr Wang, CEO and Founder of Scale, to discuss his charter to help the DoD increase the speed and agility it develops and fields advances in AI, data analytics, and machine-learning technology. Dr. Martell will discuss how he plans to align incentives to take advantage of existing private-sector technology while streamlining procurement processes. He addresses how he will work to organize the immense quantities of data the department processes to make it more AI-ready to improve the department's capabilities overall.Dr. Martell will identify the advanced AI capabilities he will look to implement across the department and how some of the latest advancements in large models factor into his plans. Finally, he will explore how to communicate complex technical topics to non-technical leaders in the government and how the industry can best support the government with AI initiatives.