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Amidst a global hype for artificial intelligence that has seen governments and firms focus on upgrading their infrastructure and allocating greater resources to researching advanced concepts such as machine learning and reinforcement learning, a Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) official has shared some of the ways in his agency is working with A.I. DARPA is the research arm of the Department of Defense, and it has played a crucial role in developing a variety of modern day technologies such as the computer and the Internet.
DARPA Deputy Director Says Agency Using A.I. & Associated Technologies In 70% Of Its Programs
DARPA's deputy director of the agency's Information Innovation Office, Matt Turek, shared details about how his agency is keeping up with artificial intelligence across its various programs earlier this week when he was speaking at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event.
The agency has been quite active as of late, and some of its announcements regarding the use of nuclear technologies in space have created a lot of hype. DARPA has partnered up with NASA to fly the world's first nuclear propulsion rocket in space to attempt to use the technology to significantly reduce interstellar travel time.
At the event, the DARPA official revealed that nearly 70% of the agency's programs use A.I., machine learning, or autonomy to some extent. A.I. has risen to the forefront of the public's imagination because of Microsoft backed OpenAI's large language model called ChatGPT. According to Turek, the agency has partnered up with both the companies, as well as Google and Amazon A.I. partner Anthropic.
Turek outlined that one way in which his agency has used generate artificial intelligence is to discover and fix vulnerabilities in open source software.
Some of Turek's most telling comments, however, were for the F-16 program. The F-16 is the backbone of the U.S. Air Force, and its lightweight frame coupled with high maneuverability has led to the aircraft becoming the most popular globally as well. The DARPA official outlined that when we talk about artificial intelligence and autonomy, one use case the agency is testing involves the F-16 and the Air Force.
The U.S. Air Force has been flying remotely piloted F-16s for quite some time now. These aircraft are called the QF-16, and they are modified air frames of older F-16 aircraft. The first piloted QF-16 took to the skies in 2012 and a remotely piloted flight followed a year later that saw a pilot perform pre-flight checkouts and then close the canopy from the outside to hand over the aircraft's control to an operator.
This program aimed to provide pilots with targets resembling 4th and 4.5th generation aircraft, and the Air Force superseded this program in 2022 by seeking proposals for a target drone program that can emulate fifth generation stealth aircraft. Even though the first remotely piloted QF-16 flew in 2013, pilots had to wait for four years before the first drone was operationally shot down during an exercise.
You can check out the first remote flight of the QF-16 in a video from Boeing below.
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
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