The Office of the Inspector General within the Department of Defense has found delays in the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office’s development of an implementation plan for the DOD’s AI Adoption Strategy and AI policy.
Released on Monday, an IG report on the effectiveness of CDAO’s AI services and governance noted that the delays in issuing key foundational documents caused ambiguity in the CDAO’s roles and responsibilities for DOD data, analytics and AI and confusion between the CDAO and the DOD Chief Information Office.
According to DOD Inspector General Robert Storch, the lack of clarity may impact the DOD’s AI implementation and prevent the agency from harnessing the full potential of the technology.
What CDAO Can Do in Response
To address the issue, the report urged CDAO to complete and publish an implementation plan to guide the collaboration between the office and the DOD components on the creation of strategic performance measures that will help achieve the DOD’s AI goals. The OIG also recommended coordinating with the director of administration and management to review existing AI guidance, determine which should be removed or incorporated into the DOD AI policy, and then approve the AI policy guidance.
The report is part of the OIG’s series of oversight work focused on the DOD’s use of artificial intelligence.