US-based start-up SparkCognition has received a contract from the Pentagon’s Silicon Valley office, Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx), to provide artificial intelligence (AI) pilot effort to the US Air Force (USAF).

While reducing operating costs, the Phase I contract of Project Quantum seeks to enable the USAF to enhance enterprise-level decision-making capabilities, resource allocation intelligence, situational prediction, and operational optimisation.

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Under the contract, DIUx will use SparkCognition's AI technology platform to derive higher-order patterns from existing operational conditions.

The technology will then use data from the USAF to carry out macro and micro-level analysis of operations and previously observed outcomes to track the effects of any single decision or multiple decisions.

This approach is expected to aid in the DoD’s planning, programming, budgeting, and execution (PPBE) process to allocate resources.

"Together, SparkCognition and DIUx will transform operations for a new era of efficiency and confidence."

SparkCognition Executive Board Member and USMC (retired) general John Allen said: "The order of magnitude of greater increase in the speed and accuracy of budgetary decisions will revolutionise how the airforce, and potentially the DoD as a whole, conducts business.”

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SparkCognition's model will also be refined in the subsequent phases of this project with additional data and testing scenarios.

It will include partnering with the USAF on UI design and integrating with the service’s enterprise relational databases.

SparkCognition Federal Operations director and retired USMC infantry officer Tim Stefanick said: "We are customising an AI engine for the airforce to provide actionable insights and behaviour predictions.

"Together, SparkCognition and DIUx will transform operations for a new era of efficiency and confidence."

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