Cyber Spies Don't Have to Worry About Robots Taking Their Jobs, Intel Chief Says

Young hackers and data miners gunning for a job in the intelligence community don't need to worry about robots taking their jobs, the director of national intelligence said Tuesday. Artificial intelligence and machine learning systems will increasingly help intelligence agencies parse the behemoth troves of data they collect, but humans will still need to analyze that data for insights and ensure it isn't manipulated by foreign hackers, Director Dan Coats told students at The Citadel military college in Charleston, S.C. "Our problem now is we have more demand for these types of capabilities, including cybersecurity and so forth, than we have supply," Coats said in response to a student question about the effects of artificial intelligence on hiring. "Those of you who are in curriculum that fits into those categories, Uncle Sam needs you," Coats continued. The military's broad goal with artificial intelligence, Coats said is to gather insights from satellites and other signals intelligence sources where the data is now too voluminous to be sufficiently analyzed. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, for example, is only able to analyze about 20 percent of the data it collects right now, Coats said.