Enhancing Warfighter Capabilities with Artificial Intelligence: DISA’s Efforts and Challenges

DISA is facing the challenge of providing valuable AI-enabled capabilities to the warfighter, according to Deepak Seth, the AI technical lead for DISA’s Emerging Technologies Directorate. Despite the abundance of AI capabilities available, the focus is on how to effectively utilize them for operational use.

One of the key areas of focus for DISA is integrating enterprise knowledge into pre-trained models, such as large language models (LLMs), to ensure that responses are grounded in organizational data. Additionally, the agency is working on developing a question-and-answer model similar to the digital concierge, which aims to streamline data access and analysis for users.

In the realm of Defensive Cyber Operations (DCO), DISA is looking to leverage AI tools to enhance its capabilities in detecting and analyzing incoming data for anomalies. The agency recently released a request for information seeking commercial AI/ML models, tools, and services to augment its DCO methods.

With hundreds of responses received, DISA is currently reviewing the potential applications of AI in improving its defense operations. The agency’s efforts reflect a growing trend in the defense sector towards integrating AI technologies to enhance operational effectiveness and efficiency.