AI Needs Strong Structures to Develop User Trust, Leaders Say

Defense Department must have trust and culture shifts in place before artificial intelligence can be implemented at scale, military research officials said.

Naval Research Laboratory Senior Scientist for Autonomous and Robotics Systems Glen Henshaw said at Sea Air Space Tuesday that structures need to be in place to trust AI, similar to the way that structures help train and build trust in developing Marines.

“We don’t necessarily trust the individual that walks in the door, we trust the system to create a Marine. We don’t leverage the requirements to be trustworthy entirely on the individual. We build the whole structure, and we think the structure will be trustworthy,” Henshaw said. “We’re going to have to reorganize ourselves around AI as well, we’re going to have to embed AI in a structure that we trust, and not levy the requirements will be trustworthy entirely on the AI itself.”

Coast Guard Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer Capt. Brian Erickson said that rapid adaptation to data now available from sensors will be the key difference-maker between the winners and losers in the AI battle space.

“I believe in the future of the AI battle space, there is going to be a speed element and whether our adversaries or we are able to adapt faster in a scenario is what is going to matter,” Erickson said. “We’ve never had a more elegant space to play and figure this out and experiment then artificial intelligence and the technology that comes along with it.”

Colin Crosby, data service officer and deputy CDO at the Department of the Navy, emphasized that AI offers a wealth of possibilities, but it will be important to have a strong organizational culture to fully realize AI’s potential.

“How do we set in motion to get the talent either from commercially securing or developing talent in house? From a talent perspective, we’re looking at how we develop that talent,” Crosby said “What is the future state of the Marine Corps? How do we transform the Marine Corps to get to that end state of intrinsic and ubiquitous implementation of technology capabilities at the end of the rainbow?”