U.S. Air Force officials Capt. Jazmin Furtado and Capt. Chris Dylewski have said the service branch must position itself to address emerging artificial intelligence threats to avoid lagging behind in the global competitive landscape.
Furtado and Dylewski wrote in an opinion piece published Thursday on C4ISRnet that the Air Force should drive its AI efforts by investing in cyber workforce initiatives, executing a data-centric AI approach and inculcating an agile mindset to digital modernization.
They noted that the Air Force needs to go beyond “sprinkling innovation” across the service and implement best practices that result in a cultural shift as represented by programs like the Kessel Run software development effort and the AI Accelerator program between USAF and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
They also cited initiatives such as the Advanced Battle Management System and the Joint All-Domain Command and Control programs that certify the service’s capacity to utilize decision intelligence and advanced analytics.
Furtado and Dylewski’s comments come after the Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency completed the AlphaDogfight trials which assessed the performance of AI-enabled fighter aircraft.
Furtado is the portfolio lead for Wing C2 data at the Air Force’s Kessel Run unit while Dylewski serves as a member of the 56th Fighter Wing and head of the ThunderBolt Spark Cell program.