Maven Initiative: More AI for US Military?

May 2, 2018

We receive an update on AI in the field of intelligence from International Business Times in their article, “What Is Project Maven? The Pentagon’s New AI Is Hunting Terrorists in the Wild.” Machine-learning tool Maven was developed in-house, and has already been put into service in the Middle East. As good AI’s are wont to do, we’re told the platform learns from experience and has reached an 80% accuracy rate in target identification. That sounds pretty good. (Unless one finds oneself in the 20%, I suppose.) Paired with drones, Maven can be quite effective; it is designed to interface with the georegistration system Minotaur, currently in use by our Navy and Marine Corps. Reporter India Ashok writes:

“While the AI system was deployed in the Middle East, it reportedly helped US intelligence analysts identify objects in a video of a battlefield captured by a ScanEagle drone. In 2018, the Project Maven team will reportedly work on automating battlefield drone video analysis. By the next summer, the team reportedly hopes to incorporate the AI system’s capabilities with larger UAVs such as the Predator and Reaper drones. The team is also reportedly planning to incorporate Maven into the Gorgon Stare, a high-tech series of cameras mounted on Reaper drones, which can view entire towns. Equipping such Reaper drones with the Maven algorithm will likely allow intel analysts to cast a wider net around the area and also likely identify civilian areas. Maven’s deployment might not only revolutionize war tech, but also reshape the way intel analysts perform. The success of the project might also likely boost support for AI operations further in other defense programs.”

Air Force Lt. Gen. John N.T. Shanahan sees the project as the beginning of an effective partnership between humans and machines. He believes every aspect of the Department of Defense could be enhanced by machine learning and expects that, by the end of the year, analysts will have developed many creative uses for the ever-evolving Maven. No doubt.

Cynthia Murrell, May 2, 2018

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under AI, Government, News

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.