Air Force wants smart system that can learn how to detect threats from sensor data

The Air Force wants smart software that can help analysts identify targets from a disparate patchwork of high and low resolution imagery data, a solicitation reveals. The hope is that the technology can be used by counterinsurgency teams to detect improvised explosive devices and ground threats. The Pentagon is specifically interested in "machine learning" technology -- artificial intelligence capabilities that allow computers to recognize complex patterns and make intelligent decisions with repeated use. Defense envisions that the systems will get smarter with time if taught how to model the way in which humans detect anomalous targets. "The activity detection system has an opportunity to learn from the detections provided by the users," the solicitation says.