Keep an eye on “accredited AI” for selling to Defense…

Selling Commercial Technologies to US Defense customers requires that companies achieve accreditations for their technology to operate on production systems or process information according to DoD’s Impact Levels. Achieving these accreditations can be time consuming and complex for any company not familiar with DoD’s security requirements.

Due to this complexity, several companies have stood up businesses and solutions that accelerate accreditations. Some companies with these offerings include: Second Front, Coalfire, and SMX.

Another widely recognized company in this mix, stackArmor, made an announcement last week. They launched a trademarked ATO for AI solution. This solution leverages the fact sheet that the Biden-Harris administration released in September 2023 as its underpinning, which lists the 8 voluntary commitments leading AI companies have made to manage risks posed by AI.

Let’s be clear, the 8 voluntary commitments outlined in the fact sheet—such as committing to internal and external testing before AI systems are released publicly, and using watermarks to inform users of when data is AI generated—are not government requirements for AI technology to be used by federal customers… yet.

stackArmor is savvy to look ahead to the future of AI accreditation and predict that the fact sheet is a leading indicator of accreditation requirements the government might mandate in the future. They are even savvier from a business sense to trademark the name, “ATO for AI!”

These are still early days for us all. It’s early for AI, and it’s even earlier for strict government regulation of AI.

That said, it is smart for Commercial Technology companies to keep an eye on this type of occurrence in the market just to be aware of where things might go. After all, great sales execution requires knowing how to “skate to the hockey puck.”