Booz Allen Hamilton has formed Booz Allen Ventures, LLC, a $100 million corporate venture capital arm that will invest in strategic dual-use commercial technologies for federal clients. Aligned with client demand and the firm's Velocity, Leadership, Technology growth strategy, Booz Allen Ventures will invest in early-stage companies and technologies within four core areas of demand: defense, artificial intelligence/machine learning, cybersecurity and deep technology. "We are proud and excited to continue our work with the best startups to support our U.S. government clients. The ability to navigate bigger, faster technology waves and identify the right emerging technologies for their mission needs, as well as our own, is vital to enabling growth and mission speed," said Susan Penfield, Booz Allen's chief technology officer. Booz Allen Ventures will enable Booz Allen to expand on its existing tech Scouting capability to source and recommend technology investments with a focus on mission-specific applications.

Booz Allen Hamilton, one of the 10 largest U.S. defense contractors, launched a $100 million venture capital fund to invest in fledgling companies creating promising new technology. The fund announced Wednesday, dubbed Booz Allen Ventures, will concentrate on bankrolling early-stage firms working on cutting-edge technology, and help them find ways to get those innovations into the field for use. Brian MacCarthy, vice president of tech scouting and ventures at Booz Allen, said in a Monday interview that the fund plans to invest in four to six firms per year, providing seed money ranging from hundreds of thousands to low millions of dollars. MacCarthy said there is a growing understanding in the defense world that more must be done to open funding streams for firms working on new capabilities such as artificial intelligence, which could in turn help Booz Allen's government clients. He pointed to the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence's 2021 final report, which recommended major new investments in AI research and development, as an example of the emerging consensus around this need.

Artificial intelligence, commonly referred to as AI, has great potential to increase efficiency, accuracy, and cost savings within the legal industry. But the ability to make decisions autonomously without any human involvement has caused concern in some legal circles as to the ethical implications. Specifically, a literal artificial decision does not apply the same critical thinking, intuition, and professional judgement traditionally practiced by a seasoned lawyer. While the point is valid, it is important to first consider how AI is transforming routine tasks in legal firms. AI in a law practice would use rules based logic developed with attorneys to abbreviate labor intensive tasks, such as contract review, where items of concern would be brought to the attention of a practicing lawyer for review.

When people imagine a future of "robot lawyers," they tend to focus on employment and economic effects -- for example, the implications for the lawyer labor market (e.g., "will the robots take our jobs"). Often overlooked, but no less important, are the ethical implications of artificial intelligence. Last week, at the Global Privacy Summit of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), I attended a session tackling this very subject -- "Machines That Can Learn: Can They Also Be Taught Human Values?" -- with the following panelists: Mark MacCarthy of the SIAA opened by noting the significance of the subject. Machine learning has been described as "the most important general-purpose technology of our era." Taken as a whole, it will improve human civilization, promoting justice and prosperity.