Dana Deasy on AI infrastructure
From Emerge 2019 Program Keynote: Dana Deasy, CIO, DoD · · General Dynamics Information Technology
“The day you say that you want to really embrace machine learning and AI the day you say that is the day you said you've also solved for a very large infrastructure problem because the do AI and machine learning at the scale that we're proposing to do it is it assumes in that strategy that we have a very large scale cloud available that can handle supporting AI solutions all the way out to the tactical edge this is why cloud is so foundational it's what we're going to put on top of that which leads to a discussion about AI that's really important.”
On , Dana Deasy, Chief Information Digital Officer, Senior Vice President, Information Digital Technology & Security at Boeing, spoke about AI infrastructure during Emerge 2019 Program Keynote: Dana Deasy, CIO, DoD on General Dynamics Information Technology.
About Dana Deasy
Dana Deasy, as the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer, has emphasized a digital modernization strategy built on four pillars: cloud, artificial intelligence, command and control communications, and next-generation cybersecurity. Speaking at several events in 2018 and 2019, he argued that AI would become "more than just a tool" and "a partner" to the warfighter, and described the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center as a vehicle for cross-service "national mission initiatives." He cited specific pilot projects, such as an algorithm to predict sand buildup in Black Hawk helicopter engines and the use of AI to map wildfire fire lines in real time, as examples of the technology’s potential. Deasy also stressed the need to reframe acquisition priorities from "cost, schedule and performance" to "security, cost, schedule and performance," calling security a "condition of doing business." He advocated for decentralizing compute power to the "tactical edge" and leveraging cloud to improve data and algorithm delivery to deployed forces. In addition, he described his approach to organizational leadership as leaving "your organization in a better place" with "enduring, sustainable" change, and noted that his early focus as DoD CIO was aligning his office with the National Defense Strategy.