The Defense Department, Army and Howard University linked up to collectively push forward artificial intelligence and machine learning-rooted research, technologies and applications through a recently unveiled center of excellence. Work it will underpin will "shape the future," according to an announcement Monday from the Army Research Laboratory--and the $7.5 million center also marks a move by the Pentagon to help expand its pipeline for future personnel. "Diversity of science and diversity of the future [science and technology] talent base go hand-in-hand in this new and exciting partnership," Dr. Brian Sadler, Army senior research scientist for intelligent systems said. Tapped to manage the partnership, Sadler added that Howard University is "an intellectual center for the nation." Encompassing 13 schools and colleges, the institution is a private, historically Black research university that was founded in 1867.

The work will hone in on military-centered machine learning application development, research into trustworthy AI tech--and could help boost DoD's …

The Pentagon's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center has partnered with the General Services Administration to accelerate government's AI use with a new Center of Excellence initiative. "The new GSA-DoD partnership reflects the ongoing success of the Center of Excellence initiative. In alignment with the Administration's strategy for ensuring American leadership in the industries of the future, the AI CoE program will build the capacity to deliver AI solutions throughout the federal government," Chris Liddell, White House deputy chief of staff for policy coordination, said in a statement. JAIC will rely on expertise from the GSA Technology Transformation Services team, and will look to push military advances in AI technology to the civilian sector. "We believe that the opportunities for applying AI in government are significant," TTS Director Anil Cheriyan said in a statement, adding that the effort will "build a foundation to reuse our AI expertise to improve citizen experiences across government."