Page 10 - FCW, March/April 2020

Artificial Intelligence
THE TERM “ARTIFICIAL
Fine-tuning strategies and allocating money
Agencies have already begun using machine learning, robotic process automation, the internet of things and other AI tools to improve operations, but in many ways, AI’s potential is still untapped. In a recent survey of FCW readers, 72% said their agencies have not begun deploying AI-based tools, and 70% said their teams had no training in data science or AI.
Fortunately, numerous efforts to promote AI are underway across government. Perhaps most notably, the White House issued the Executive Order on Maintaining American Leadership in AI last year and announced the American AI Initiative, a national strategy “to sustain and enhance the scientific, technological and economic leadership position of the United States in AI R&D and deployment.”
Agencies have barely scratched the surface
of a technology that has profound implications for government missions
That strategy is guided by five principles that address the need for technological breakthroughs on the part of government, industry and academia; technical standards and the removal of barriers to AI adoption; training for current and future American workers; protection of privacy and civil liberties to foster public trust
in the technology; and an international environment that supports American AI research and innovation while protecting critical AI technologies from competitors and adversaries.
Several months later, the White House hosted the Summit on AI in Government to brainstorm ways that agencies can adopt the technology.
Other efforts include the establishment of an interagency Select Committee on AI under the National Science and Technology Council, an update to the National AI R&D
intelligence” was coined in the
1950s, but the concepts behind it emerged centuries ago. In the modern era, though, it has long been the province of specially trained scientists and those with access to supercomputers.
AI is slowly becoming more mainstream thanks to advances in other technologies that provide the storage and computing capacity that AI requires. That progress
is also due in no small part to the government’s growing ability to collect the vast amounts of data that AI systems need to function well.
For government, AI promises to streamline operations, facilitate decision- making and improve customer services in ways that weren’t possible before. Ultimately, it has the potential to transform the country’s security, prosperity and well-being.
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