Pentagon grapples with growth of artificial intelligence. (Graphic by Breaking Defense, original brain graphic via Getty)
WASHINGTON — US Central Command (CENTCOM) has just hired a new industry expert to serve as its first-ever advisor for artificial intelligence, robotics and cloud computing, as the Pentagon moves to leverage private sector expertise, the command’s chief technology officer told reporters.
In his new role, Andrew Moore, founder of startup Lovelace AI and former vice president for the AI division of Google Cloud, will assist CENTCOM on things like how to adopt AI, collect and structure its data, computer algorithms and network-related efforts, CENTCOM CTO Schuyler Moore said. His first order of business? Getting into the Middle East theater within the next couple of months.
“We’re going to hit the ground running with him,” she said. “We’re going to take him in to theater, show him all of the range of problems that we deal with right now. And his expertise covers everything from AI and machine learning to robotics to cloud, networking and other alternative network infrastructure processes…That is exactly what we need at this moment.”
She added that “we also want to keep some open space for him to look at our problem set and say, ‘Hey, there’s something that you haven’t thought about, or there’s a technology that can solve this problem differently.'”
Andrew Moore will also work to align the command’s efforts with the Pentagon’s broader Joint All Domain Command and Control efforts and the chief digital and AI office, also led by someone brand new to DoD from the private sector, former Lyft executive Craig Martell.
“So we have lead on a number of lines of efforts related to what the CDAO is doing for digital warfighting and data integration and data fusion and analytics, and so he going to inform the efforts that we’re performing, particularly through the recurring exercise sprints to inform what the CDAO has been pulling together for the department,” she said.
Schuyler Moore was referring to the Global Information Dominance Experiments, which were relaunched earlier this year by the CDAO. The four exercises, running this year, will focus on high-speed data sharing.
While the geographical combatant commands have their own chief data officers, Schyuler Moore said, they haven’t had designated AI experts. Andrew Moore’s hire marks the first time CENTCOM has an AI advisor. Andrew Moore approached CENTCOM at a time when the command was looking for more talent in the technology space, but had not specifically put out a call for a new designated industry lead.
“He happened to reach out and we also happened to have a very healthy demand signal for someone of his particular talent,” Schuyler Moore said. “It was just a perfect conversion with us expressing, putting out the demand signal that we needed technical talent, which he then heard and reached out himself to provide.”
Bringing in someone from the private sector is a benefit for DoD because “it is a talent that doesn’t necessarily inherently exist within the department,” she added. “It’s not one that we’ve invested in in decades past, but it is one that is increasingly, increasingly critical.”
In a CENTCOM press release, Andrew Moore said he “couldn’t be more excited and honored by this opportunity.”
“I love the math and creativity of advanced technology development, but like so many of my friends in the AI industry, I want to see that theory being applied where it really makes a positive difference and CENTCOM’s mission is seriously inspiring to me,” he said.
Last May, Andrew Moore testified in front of lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on cybersecurity, pleading for more support in DoD’s AI initiatives before the US falls behind its adversaries. He specifically said that while he was encouraged by the creation of the CDAO, he was worried about lawmakers’ support of DoD AI efforts being “just lots of talk.”
“This is how we’re going to succeed… by having a centralized effort to put an artificial intelligence strategy across the whole DoD,” Moore said at the time. “What I worry about… for this individual, is whether they are going to get enough support from the government and from the center of DoD to actually make changes that are needed. Because you cannot just magic AI on top of existing systems, you have to think about how you’re going to change operations. So please give support to your central AI leaders.”
