Understanding artificial intelligence and the way it pertains to matters of national security has turn out to be a top priority for military and government leaders in recent times. A latest three-day custom program entitled “Artificial Intelligence for National Security Leaders” — AI4NSL for brief — goals to coach leaders who may not have a technical background on the fundamentals of AI, machine learning, and data science, and the way these topics intersect with national security.

“National security fundamentally is about two things: getting information out of sensors and processing that information. These are two things that AI excels at. The AI4NSL class engages national security leaders in understanding the right way to navigate the advantages and opportunities that AI affords, while also understanding its potential negative consequences,” says Aleksander Madry, the Cadence Design Systems Professor at MIT and one in every of the course’s faculty directors.

Organized jointly by MIT’s School of Engineering, MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing, and MIT Sloan Executive Education, AI4NSL wrapped up its fifth cohort in April. The course brings leaders from every branch of the U.S. military, in addition to some foreign military leaders from NATO, to MIT’s campus, where they learn from faculty experts on quite a lot of technical topics in AI, in addition to the right way to navigate organizational challenges that arise on this context.

“We got down to put together an actual executive education class on AI for senior national security leaders,” says Madry. “For 3 days, we’re teaching these leaders not only an understanding of what this technology is about, but additionally the right way to best adopt these technologies organizationally.”

The unique idea sprang from discussions with senior U.S. Air Force (USAF) leaders and members of the Department of the Air Force (DAF)-MIT AI Accelerator in 2019.

In keeping with Major John Radovan, deputy director of the DAF-MIT AI Accelerator, in recent times it has turn out to be clear that national security leaders needed a deeper understanding of AI technologies and its implications on security, warfare, and military operations. In February 2020, Radovan and his team on the DAF-MIT AI Accelerator began constructing a custom course to assist guide senior leaders of their discussions about AI.

“That is the one course on the market that is concentrated on AI specifically for national security,” says Radovan. “We didn’t intend to make this course only for members of the Air Force — it needed to be for all branches of the military. If we’re going to operate as a joint force, we’d like to have the identical vocabulary and the identical mental models about the right way to use this technology.”

After a pilot program in collaboration with MIT Open Learning and the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Radovan connected with faculty on the School of Engineering and MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, including Madry, to refine the course’s curriculum. They enlisted the assistance of colleagues and college at MIT Sloan Executive Education to refine the category’s curriculum and cater the content to its audience. The results of this cross-school collaboration was a latest iteration of AI4NSL, which was launched last summer.

Along with providing participants with a basic overview of AI technologies, the course places a heavy emphasis on organizational planning and implementation.

“What we desired to do was to create smart consumers on the command level. The concept was to present this content at the next level so that individuals could understand the important thing frameworks, which can guide their pondering across the use and adoption of this material,” says Roberto Fernandez, the William F. Kilos Professor of Management and one in every of the AI4NSL instructors, in addition to the opposite course’s faculty director.

Through the three-day course, instructors from MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and MIT Sloan School of Management cover a big selection of topics.

The primary half of the course starts with a basic overview of concepts including AI, machine learning, deep learning, and the role of information. Instructors also present the issues and pitfalls of using AI technologies, including the potential for adversarial manipulation of machine learning systems, privacy challenges, and ethical considerations.

In the course of day two, the course shifts to look at the organizational perspective, encouraging participants to contemplate the right way to effectively implement these technologies in their very own units.

“What’s exciting about this course is the way in which it’s formatted first when it comes to understanding AI, machine learning, what data is, and the way data feeds AI, after which giving participants a framework to return to their units and construct a method to make this work,” says Colonel Michelle Goyette, director of the Army Strategic Education Program on the Army War College and an AI4NSL participant.

Throughout the course, breakout sessions provide participants with a possibility to collaborate and problem-solve on an exercise together. These breakout sessions construct upon each other because the participants are exposed to latest concepts related to AI.

“The breakout sessions have been distinctive because they force you to determine relationships with people you don’t know, so the networking aspect is essential. Any time you possibly can do greater than receive information and really get into the appliance of what you were taught, that actually enhances the educational environment,” says Lieutenant General Brian Robinson, the commander of Air Education and Training Command for the USAF and an AI4NSL participant.

This spirit of teamwork, collaboration, and bringing together individuals from different backgrounds permeates the three-day program. The AI4NSL classroom not only brings together national security leaders from all branches of the military, it also brings together faculty from three schools across MIT.

“Certainly one of the things that is most fun about this program is the form of overarching theme of collaboration,” says Rob Dietel, director of executive programs at Sloan School of Management. “We’re not drawing just from the MIT Sloan faculty, we’re bringing in top faculty from the Schwarzman College of Computing and the School of Engineering. It’s wonderful to find a way to tap into those resources which are here on MIT’s campus to actually make it essentially the most impactful program that we are able to.”

As latest developments in generative AI, reminiscent of ChatGPT, and machine learning alter the national security landscape, the organizers at AI4NSL will proceed to update the curriculum to make sure it’s preparing leaders to grasp the implications for his or her respective units.

“The speed of change for AI and national security is so fast straight away that it’s difficult to maintain up, and that is a part of the rationale we have designed this program. We have brought in a few of our world-class faculty from different parts of MIT to actually address the changing dynamic of AI,” adds Dietel.