The Department of the Air Force’s Chief Intelligence Office has launched a new platform aimed at increasing transparency about the various artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities being developed.
The online tool, called CLARA, is designed to increase visibility and overall understanding of the department’s AI-related efforts by serving as a centralized repository of project information, progress and potential collaboration opportunities, DAF’s CIO said in a LinkedIn post on Monday. The goal is to keep stakeholders across the department informed and aligned on these types of technologies.
“Every warfighter deserves a clear understanding of the tools and capabilities available to them,” DAF acting chief data and AI officer Chandra Donelson said in a statement. “Transparent access to resources means everyone is better equipped and prepared to excel on every mission.”
Like other parts of the Defense Department, the Department of the Air Force is exploring how advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities can be applied to the Air Force and Space Force. The Department of the Air Force is experimenting with new technologies and has launched pilot projects focused on how AI can support both services, from routine operations to tactical operations.
CLARA will be used to monitor progress, spending and potential overlapping efforts for a number of ongoing programs, Air Force CIO Venice Goodwine said Monday during a keynote address at the Department of the Air Force’s annual Information Technology and Cyberpower conference.
“One of the things Congress has tasked us with is being able to do an inventory of AI so we can report on how much money we’re spending on it,” Goodwine said, “but the key is how do we track the time our Airmen and Guard members are on the job. CLARA is the vehicle to do that.”
In April, officials established the DAF AI Launch Point to serve as a “one-stop shop” for all emerging artificial intelligence capabilities at the Defense Department, Goodwine said. The website features information on policy, strategy, training and education, as well as an AI Exchange App Store where Airmen and guardians can begin experimenting with AI-enabled technologies.
One of these new tools is NIPRGPT 1.0, a generative AI chatbot hosted on the Unclassified Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRNet). Released in June in collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory, this experimental platform allows DAF to test a variety of large-scale language models and learn how they can be used in real-world scenarios.
NIPRGPT 1.0 enables experimentation with several open source large-scale language models, including LLM from Meta’s Llama family and Mistral AI, Goodwine noted.
Based on what is being called NIPRGPT 1.0+, the department is looking to incorporate Retrieval Augmented Generative (RAG) models to combine large-scale language models with the department’s internal data.
“What we’re looking to do is say which model is best for which use case,” Goodwine said.
In addition to NIPRGPT, the department’s AI Exchange platform also includes redForce AI, a DevOps platform that supports rapid artificial intelligence capability development for the warfighter, and the Mission-Driven Autonomous Collaborative Heterogeneous Intelligent Network Architecture (MACHINA), part of the Space Force’s Space Domain Awareness network architecture.
Author: Mikayla Easley
Mikayla Easley reports on the Pentagon’s acquisition and use of emerging technologies. Prior to DefenseScoop, she covered national security and the defense industry for National Defense Magazine. She holds a BA in Russian Language and Literature from the University of Michigan and a MA in Journalism from the University of Missouri. You can follow her on Twitter: @MikaylaEasley.
