The JAIC in 2021 – Building an AI Future by focusing on AI in the Present

The JAIC team is taking the holiday period to reflect on the opportunities and challenges of 2020 and seeking ways to create transformational impact in 2021. While the JAIC made significant progress in jumpstarting AI in the two and a half years since it was established, the strategic environment is constantly changing and the organization must continually adapt to transform the U.S. military through AI. In 2021, the JAIC will place more focus on enabling the military services, combatant commands, and Department of Defense enterprises to pursue their AI projects – whether directly or through supporting organizations that are using AI to solve those use cases that can be scaled.

To accelerate the DoD’s ability to facilitate data-driven and data-informed decisions with speed, the JAIC will:

• Support the warfighting enterprises across the DoD by participating in key projects and conversations that help the services integrate AI into their force development.
• Enable DoD support enterprises to enhance their business operations and create efficiencies through AI capabilities.
• Launch and mature the Joint Common Foundation AI development environment as a force multiplier for building and scaling AI capabilities, as both a technical platform, and the place to host education and training resources, T & E advice, ethics advice, and more.

As the DoD’s AI Center of Excellence, the JAIC team is focused on AI innovation and broad enablement – both for mature programs and those organizations that do not have the technical knowledge or resources, yet have viable AI use cases. The JAIC team will also offer expertise in key areas such as AI acquisition, via the Tradewind business model; to DevSecOps; to technical support teams; to serving as a policy key driver for the DoD’s AI ecosystem so that requirements are better understood by senior decision makers.

2021 will be a time of change for the Department as it moves toward data-driven and data-informed decisions with speed and tempo for both business and military operations. The DoD’s journey in transformation will require a focused and holistic effort to implement and jumpstart AI projects. To build an AI future for the U.S. military, it begins with everything the DoD does in the present to lay the groundwork for that future. This is where the JAIC will focus in 2021.