Summer Myatt
In recent years, artificial intelligence has made waves as one of the most important, consequential technologies of the modern era. Today, the federal government is getting serious about harnessing industry innovations, accelerating the adoption of AI across the public sector and laying the groundwork for future AI advancements.
Pentagon leaders believe AI is critical for processing massive troves of data, especially as the government places higher priority on data centricity.
Jennifer Ewbank, deputy director of digital innovation for the CIA, noted in a LinkedIn post that approximately 90 percent of all the world’s data was created in the last two years. At today’s pace, she explained, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are being added to the world’s data repositories daily, posing a significant challenge to the intelligence community.
“Those in the intelligence community must master the collection, movement, storage, and exploitation of data so that we can enable operations, enhance analytic insights, and provide policymakers with the strategic advantage they need to protect America and her allies,” wrote Ewbank, a 2022 Wash100 Award winner.
The CIA’s Jennifer Ewbank is slated to keynote the Potomac Officers Club’s 4th Annual AI Summit on Sept. 7. Register here.
Ewbank said effectively harnessing the huge influx of data will require a wide range of elements like moving legacy systems to the cloud, cleaning up data and prioritizing artificial intelligence.
“We must invest in automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. We must raise the digital acumen of our workforce to ensure they are AI-ready. And we must emphasize both law and ethics in the use of AI/ML,” continued Ewbank.
Ewbank’s comments echo a larger push within the AI community to regulate the technology’s use and set parameters for the responsible and ethical use of AI. In June, the Department of Defense released its Responsible Artificial Intelligence Strategy and Implementation Pathway, which establishes ethical guardrails that will guide the DOD’s adoption of AI.
For Ewbank, AI is not just an advanced technology but an essential part of the intelligence community’s future. “How can we burn through the haystacks of data to find the needles of insight?” she posed. “In this exponentially growing data environment, we can only do that at machine speed and machine scale, which means artificial intelligence.”
Learn more about the future of AI in the public sector at the Potomac Officers Club’s 4th Annual AI Summit on Sep. 7. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from top-level government officials, AI experts and industry leaders as they discuss what’s next for AI. Click here to register.
