The Veterans Affairs Department's nascent National Artificial Intelligence Institute is focusing on hammering out policies and streamlining its processes so it can share data with partners in a speedy way. After its initial launch late last year, the agency's inaugural artificial intelligence director and lead of the center Dr. Gil Alterovitz shared few details with Nextgov about its ultimate aims, but at an event in Washington Wednesday, he expanded on the center's early intentions and efforts. "We are at that time in history where human intelligence at some point will intersect with artificial intelligence," Alterovitz said at the ACT-IAC's second intelligent automation and AI forum. "And so it's a really special time for us to learn about it." The AI director said the intersection between human intelligence and specific areas where computational artificial intelligence will meet is inching closer to reality by the day.

The Veterans Affairs Department recently launched a National Artificial Intelligence Institute to coordinate and advance strategic vet-focused research and development efforts to harness the budding technology. "VA has a unique opportunity to be a leader in artificial intelligence," Secretary Robert Wilkie said in a statement. "VA's artificial intelligence institute will usher in new capabilities and opportunities that will improve health outcomes for our nation's heroes." Home to America's largest integrated health care system, the VA trains more doctors and nurses than any other entity in the nation and also houses the largest genomic knowledge base linked to health care information in the world. Throughout 2019, the agency unveiled a variety of deliberate investments and projects to leverage artificial intelligence to better meet veterans' needs.

As the Veterans Affairs Department's inaugural Director of Artificial Intelligence, Gil Alterovitz aims to leverage the emerging technology and the agency's cornucopia of data to proactively anticipate and tackle problems afflicting veterans like never before. In a conversation with Nextgov, Alterovitz detailed his present efforts and future-facing vision to support VA in executing that mission. "Nowhere in the country is there such potential for research to be developed and translated into clinical care so quickly. In this case, it's to help our special population of veterans … and those patients have actually asked us to deal with their needs," Alterovitz said. "We really want to be the go-to place for veterans through AI research and development--so instead of reacting, we can really anticipate their needs."