Why now is the time for AI companies to enter Defense
On October 30, 2023, President Bident issued an Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence. This order builds on the voluntary commitments that companies like SpaceX and Palantir made in collaboration with the Biden Administration to ensure AI is responsibly developed. This order also builds on the momentum the Biden Administration is generating leveraging the Domestic Production Act to accelerate US manufacturing of technologies essential for our national security.
Per the Executive Order:
“Companies developing any foundation model that poses a serious risk to national security, national economic security, or national public health and safety must notify the federal government when training the model, and must share the results of all red-team safety tests.”
What this implies is that AI companies selling and delivering across the US Defense sector will have to build business processes that ensure they are complying with this mandate. It is easier to build these processes when a company is in the earlier stages of scaling than retrofitting processes later on.
Interestingly, though this Executive Order places requirements on AI companies, it also opens up opportunity. It states:
To ensure the responsible government deployment of AI and modernize federal AI infrastructure, the President directs [that] agencies acquire specified AI products and services faster, more cheaply, and more effectively through more rapid and efficient contracting.
We are already seeing the first cohort of strategic acquisition innovators hit the market; on October 27, 2023, the Defense Innovation Unit and Defense Acquisition University congratulated the first cohort of acquisition professionals for completing their Immersive Commercial Acquisition Program (ICAP).
What this means is the time is now for AI companies to enter Defense. They can build the right processes efficiently, and therefore at a lower overall cost, to meet emerging AI safety and security requirements while taking advantage of greater contracting opportunities that will likely move at a more rapid speed.
