The Government Accountability Office has recommended that the Department of Defense develop guidance to inform the acquisition of artificial intelligence capabilities across the U.S. military.
GAO said in a Thursday report that the Pentagon has not defined concrete plans and timelines for AI acquisitions despite designating the emerging technology as a top priority for modernization and allocating significant funding to develop AI tools and capabilities.
“Without department-wide and tailored service-level guidance, DOD is missing an opportunity to ensure that it is consistently acquiring AI capabilities in a manner that accounts for the unique challenges associated with AI,” according to the report.
GAO said DOD’s department-wide AI acquisition guidance must reflect key factors that private companies consider when acquiring AI technologies.
According to GAO’s analysis, private companies’ AI acquisition strategies are guided by five categories of factors: understanding mission needs, making a business case, tailoring the contracting approach, testing and evaluating proposed technologies and planning future efforts.
