Pentagon launches generative AI task force

11 August, 2023 Visualization of artificial intelligence. Photos from open sources. The Pentagon launched a generative AI task force, which was called Task Force Lima.

Defense One reported about this. The main task of the task force will be to determine the level of security during the use of generative artificial intelligence in the Department of State. Specialists should identify situations in which use becomes dangerous.

The task force will also investigate how other countries can use this type of AI to harm the United States. "There's going to be a set of use cases that are going to be new attack vectors, not just to the DOD, but to corporations as well. And we're going to have to... to figure out diligently how to solve those," said Craig Martell, the Defense Department's Chief Digital Officer.

Cyberdefense specialists of the U.S.

National Guard, the photo is illustrative. Photo credits: Photographer: Staff Sgt. Renee Seruntine/US Army National Guard.

Generative artificial intelligence is one type of artificial intelligence that is characterized by the ability to generate audio, text, and images based on the materials provided to it.

The United States Department of Defense is in no rush to implement AI to make its work easier. It will have to work with gigantic amounts of data, which modern AIs may not be able to handle and may produce false data. Experts call such false and perhaps even distorted data "hallucinations".

The United States Department of State plans to use AI, for example, to summarize a large number of documents, create drafts of reports and other documentation, or search for a problem. The Task Force Lima will also help the Pentagon better understand what it needs to buy to achieve its new AI ambitions.

Cyber defense specialists of the US Army, the photo is illustrative. Photo from open sources.

That could mean more cloud services, more data, synthetic data, models, or none of those.

The effort is too young to know exactly what it will mean for industry, Martell said. Martell also added that a broader question is whether the Defense Department has enough use cases where generative AI could be helpful, given a better understanding of the risks. Another challenge is the development of an intuitive interface and the rapid generation of specific and understandable answers: modern civilian generative AIs require a large number of correctly asked queries to get all the necessary answers.

Artificial intelligence of other types is already used in the defense sector.

Militarnyi reported that AI can help identify ships.

Additionally, work is underway to integrate AI into the XQ-58 Valkyrie drone.