MOD need to tackle challenges to make AI work – report

A new report by the House of Commons Defence Committee is urging the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to address challenges around using artificial intelligence (AI).

“The UK has the potential to be home to a first-class defence AI sector, but at present the sector is under-developed and requires cultivation by MOD. This entails both practical and cultural change,” said the report.

“Developing a thriving defence AI sector will require improvements in digital infrastructure, data management and the AI skills base, and we urge MOD to identify where gaps exist so that work can begin to address these issues.”

The Committee said the MOD should act to make AI a greater part of military education and make it easier for AI specialists to move between the civilian and defence sectors.

“MOD is also likely to need to work with smaller and non-traditional defence suppliers who currently face barriers to working with defence, and the department needs to adopt its ways of working to make itself a more appealing and effective partner for the sector. It needs to become more comfortable with risk-taking, rapid development cycles and working with non-traditional defence suppliers,” it noted.

“We urge MOD to overcome the barriers that currently prevent such companies from working with Defence, such as complex procurement processes and difficulties obtaining security clearance for staff.”

Beyond practical changes, the report said that the MOD needs to undergo a wider cultural change to adapt to a world where military advantage is increasingly delivered by digital capabilities and cheaper platforms that can be rapidly developed, deployed and iterated.

“MOD policy documents recognise this, but there is a gap between the department’s rhetoric and the reality, and too often AI is still treated as a novelty rather than as something that will soon be a core part of defence’s toolkit,” it said.

£12 million contract awarded to AI start-up

As evidence of “a much needed gear-shift in the procurement of technology for UK Defence,” the MOD this week awarded an Enterprise Agreement Lite worth up to £12 million to AI-driven information intelligence firm, Adarga.

As one of the first agreements of its kind to be offered to an SME, it will enable the MOD to access and deploy Adarga’s AI products and services as part of UK Defence capability.

Adarga is providing Defence with a variety of AI toolkits, solutions and services that can be adapted to suit different mission requirements. It said its “rapid prototyping and solution development capabilities are underpinned by Adarga’s proprietary NLP and generative AI technologies within its Knowledge Platform, designed to increase the speed, breadth and depth of insight from increasing volumes of complex data.”

“By offering such contracts to some of the most promising indigenous start-ups, we’re well placed to be early-adopters and shapers of such critical technologies,” said Victoria Cope, commercial director of Defence Digital. “We are proud as Defence’s Digital Commercial Directorate, including Commercial X, to support SMEs to bring innovation to the Ministry of Defence.”