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The federal government needs to accelerate its efforts to incorporate artificial intelligence technologies into its operations both to take advantage of the opportunities they present and to defend against use of AI by adversaries, says a report from the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.
“Despite exciting experimentation and a few small AI programs, the U.S. government is a long way from being “AI-ready.” The commission’s business leaders are most frustrated by slow government progress because they know it’s possible for large institutions to adopt AI,” it said. The commission, consisting of technologists, national security professionals, business executives and academic leaders, was established by the fiscal 2019 DoD authorization law.
“AI integration is hard in any sector—and the national security arena poses some unique challenges. Nevertheless, committed leaders can drive change. We need those leaders in the Pentagon and across the federal government to build the technical infrastructure and connect ideas and experimentation to new concepts and operations. By 2025, the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community must be AI-ready,” it said.
It said that a shortage of employees with expertise “is the government’s most conspicuous AI deficit and the single greatest inhibitor to buying, building, and fielding AI-enabled technologies for national security purposes. This is not a time to add a few new positions in national security departments and agencies for Silicon Valley technologists and call it a day.”
It recommended building talent pipelines including through creating a “digital service academy” to train current and future employees and a civilian National Digital Reserve Corps to recruit people with the right skills; improving education in the STEM fields; improving the system for “admitting and retaining highly skilled immigrants”; and creating a Digital Corps to “organize technologists already serving in government.”
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