DARPA to build life-saving AI models that think like medics

A new DARPA initiative aims to ultimately give AI systems the same complex, rapid decision-making capabilities as military medical staff and trauma surgeons who are in the field of battle. The In the Moment (ITM) program, which is right now soliciting research proposals, aims to develop the foundations of expert machine-learning models that can make difficult judgment calls – where there is no right answer – that humans can trust. This study could lead to the deployment of algorithms that can help medics and other personnel make tough decisions in moments of life and death. "DoD missions involve making many decisions rapidly in challenging circumstances and algorithmic decision-making systems could address and lighten this load on operators … ITM seeks to develop techniques that enable building, evaluating, and fielding trusted algorithmic decision-makers for mission-critical DoD operations where there is no right answer and, consequently, ground truth does not exist," DARPA said. At the heart of this problem is that these sorts of AI systems need to be trained even when there is no ground truth or consensus among experts.