The Department of Defense's (DoD) Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced the launch of its Guaranteeing AI Robustness Against Deception (GARD) program, which is designed to develop new defenses against adversarial attacks on machine learning (ML) models. The program aims to respond to adversarial AI by developing a testbed to characterize different ML defenses and assess their applicability. Researchers on the program have created resources and virtual tools for the community to be able to test and verify the effectiveness of existing and emerging ML defense models. "Other technical communities – like cryptography – have embraced transparency and found that if you are open to letting people take a run at things, the technology will improve," GARD program manager Bruce Draper said in the announcement. "With GARD, we are taking a page from cryptography and are striving to create a community to facilitate the open exchange of ideas, tools, and technologies that can help researchers test and evaluate their ML defenses. Our goal is to raise the bar on existing evaluation efforts, bringing more sophistication and maturation to the field."

"Artificial intelligence is a technology that transcends borders," Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) said during a House hearing on the technology earlier this year. "We have allies and adversaries -- both nation-states and individual hackers -- who are pursuing artificial intelligence with all they have because dominance in artificial intelligence is a guaranteed leg up in the realm of geopolitics and economics." To ensure that the U.S. maintains an advantage in this critical area, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has launched the Artificial Intelligence Exploration program to develop new, game-changing AI technologies for U.S. national security. Through a series of short-term AIE Opportunities that use "other transaction authority," DARPA hopes to establish the feasibility of new AI concepts within 18 months of award. "The intent is to get researchers on contract quickly to test the value and feasibility of innovative concepts," DARPA Deputy Director Peter Highnam said.