Military Testing Commercial AI Tools, Says Pentagon Official

The US military will look to technology companies to supply some of the artificial intelligence tools it will need across its branches, the Pentagon’s new head of AI said Monday.

The Defense Department already is testing companies’ AI prototypes using nonsensitive information, said Radha Plumb, the department’s chief digital and AI officer. That allows her team to see whether a prototype produces reliable results before testing it with more confidential information.

Plumb’s team is focused on investing in the components of AI systems, helping to speed the department’s adoption of commercial algorithms, and helping civilian and military employees adopt them, ...