Teresa Smetzer, director of digital futures at the CIA, has said she believes artificial intelligence is an “imperative” as the agency receives and handles large amount of data, Federal News Radio reported Tuesday.

“We have an enormous exponential growth in the amount of data, the variety of data, the velocity of data, and our nation’s security really depends on our ability to quickly understand what data we have, what it means and how we’re going to use it,” Smetzer said Tuesday at an event sponsored by the IBM Center for the Business of Government and Partnership for Public Service.

She said she believes agencies should implement an incremental approach to AI adoption in an effort to address technology challenges.

“Start small with incubation, do proofs of concept, evaluate multiple technologies [and] multiple approaches,” Smetzer noted.

“Learn from that and then expand on that.”

She also cited the agency’s collaboration with universities and the private sector to gain more information about machine learning and its potential applications.