Young Bang is an established name in the world of artificial intelligence. A former U.S. Department of the Army executive, he spearheaded a number of successful emerging technology initiatives in his nearly three years at the Pentagon. Bang has also been a reliable and noted private sector innovator, with a significant portion of his career spent leading the development and testing of new technologies within industry.
Thus, Bang knows both sides of the government contracting equation well and can break down federal concepts and processes for an industry audience and vice versa. He’s a legendary public speaker and will bring that finesse to the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 AI Summit this Thursday, March 20! Be sure to grab one of the final remaining tickets so you can hear Bang’s remarks and engage with him in Q&A.
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Bang’s Credentials
After attending West Point for college, Bang spent five years as a captain in the Army, firmly laying a defense foundation for the rest of his career. He then spent time in telecommunications, before making a real name for himself in the consulting world: a year as a solution architect at KPMG followed by over a decade and a half at Booz Allen Hamilton.
Booz Allen is the lead platinum sponsor of the AI Summit and will be hosting a panel session on “The Impact of AI on National Security and Economic Growth” featuring, among others, the acting chief technology officer of the Navy. Don’t miss out!
He concluded his time at Booz as a senior vice president with work in AI, data science, machine intelligence, and immersive tech like virtual reality and augmented reality, and parlayed the immense progress and expertise he amassed at the company into his work as principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology. He was appointed to the latter position in early 2022.
AI Initiatives at the Army
#DefendAI
In his time with the service branch, Bang helped institute it as the first military component to write an AI program of record into its five-year budget. He told the Warrior Maven publication in fall 2024 that he set in motion a 100-day AI risk assessment activity and a 500-day project as a follow-up to further deepen AI proliferation. This initiative is dubbed “#DefendAI” and it’s geared toward producing AI algorithms that can be utilized by the Army and broader DOD to complete defense goals.
SBIR Funding
Bang’s work and enthusiasm for AI has helped juice funding via the Small Business Innovation Research initiative for AI. The branch projected over $105 million in AI funding for fiscal year 2025.
Bang’s New Venture
Earlier this month, Bang made his first post-Army maneuver: an appointment as chairman of the strategic advisory board at Safe Pro Group, an AI maker. He is expected to facilitate dialog between the industrial base, integrators and government clients regarding the company’s flagship Safe Pro Object Threat Detection—a.k.a. SPOTD—product. We’ll surely hear about this new venture in his keynote address at the 2025 AI Summit on Thursday, March 20 in Tysons Corner, Virginia. Register now to learn more!
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