The Department of the Navy (DON) is putting the finishing touches on its strategic plan for artificial intelligence (AI), which will detail how the Navy intends to incorporate AI into its operations, according to a senior official.
While no specific release date has been provided, officials expect the plan to be announced in the near term.
“We are working with our partners across the enterprise to finalize the DON AI Strategic Intent. It’s currently in the works but we expect it to be finalized soon,” said Stephanie Tutko, deputy chief data and AI officer for the Office of the DON Chief Information Officer (CIO), on Jan. 29 at the AFCEA West Conference in San Diego.
Tutko offered brief insights into the plan, noting that a key focus will be monitoring mission needs and identifying use cases to develop enterprise AI across the enterprise at scale.
“We are being very smart about how we pilot and approach identifying AI use cases. So instead of having 1,000 different flowers blooming, we’re determining what AI use cases are, the common AI use cases, and which ones are the mission specific ones,” Tutko said. She added this approach will ensure the department is “getting those common and more niche use cases delivered to the warfighter.”
As part of that effort, the plan includes building an AI use case inventory.
In a different session at the conference, Alicia Scott, technical director and enterprise platform manager for the DON CDAO, explained this AI registry will ensure the department is aware of how “people can use AI” and “track what is going on” especially with the development of generative AI (GenAI) tech.
In addition, the plan will also examine how the department can leverage GenAI and large language models, which are the latest buzz in AI circles, according to Scott.
Scott emphasized that the plan takes deliberate steps to address generative AI, noting that the Navy wants to avoid a situation where – like in a youth soccer game – everyone rushes toward the ball at once without direction.
“The goal is to have vetted AI solutions that perform as expected, are available when needed, and are interoperable from enterprise to edge,” Scott said.
The plan also aims to drive the development of an AI workforce. According to Tutko, the strategic intent will ensure that the department has “the right people in the room.”
Part of this workforce effort also includes “proactively engaging with industry and academia, and also modernizing governance to make sure it works for the environment that [the Navy] is working in now,” Tutko said. Scott also emphasized this effort during her session, explaining that the Navy “would be partnering with vendors to align tools and solutions with DON needs.”
