US Defense Invests $2 Billion in AI Research

The American defense unit Darpa, or Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is going to spend just over 1.7 billion euros in research into AI. The goal is to create AIs that don’t require as much training as today’s neural networks.

The investment, which is part of the so-called ai next program, will be spread over several years, says Darpa. The intended third wave AI must not only be able to work with less training, but also have to cope with changing circumstances, provide certain ‘performance guarantees’ and provide rationale for the decisions they make.

“We want to turn computers from specialized tools to problem solving partners,” said Darpa head Dr. Steven Walker. He further summarizes the work as “exploring how we can give machines human-like communication and reasoning skills, with the ability to recognize and adapt to new situations.”

Among other things, the money is invested in research projects that Darpa describes as ‘high risk, great reward’. A project must go from an idea to a workable AI concept within 18 months.