The Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) works closely with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in order to build a future reserve of highly qualified personnel for priority defense areas.
Dstl And EPSRC have co-invested in a number of projects, including:
- MOD doctoral training centers
- Dstl doctoral scholarships awarded to landscape
- AI and quantum hubs
- Future calculation
Richard Walters of the Alan Turing Institute explains how Dstlthe partnership with EPSRC funds crucial defense research, including AI to boost intelligence analysis.
I participated in a EPSRC-Organized sandbox; a unique research funding mechanism that aims to both incubate innovation and stimulate engagement between academia and defence.
The week-long event was in effect a science and innovation “lockdown” of sorts, with a diverse group of 60 participants including academics, Dstl and other British government scientists, as well as those responsible for defense and national security issues, focusing on the use of AI to support decision-making in national security and defense applications.
How AI supports decision-making in the military
Intelligence analysts must make defensible, high-consequence assessments, often using large amounts of complex and uncertain data to detect early signs of threats or hostile actions. They must work quickly, under pressure and with limited resources, to decide which data to analyze first and whether to risk collecting additional intelligence.
Learn more about the sandbox
Richard is leading a 2-year, £1.25 million program called AI Support for intelligence triage and acquisition for human-centered analysis (AiTASHA). This will build explainable and defensible explanations AI to complement, rather than replace, the work of intelligence analysts.
The project will improve the speed and reliability of intelligence analyst assessments. It will do this by recommending which existing data should be prioritized for human review, and what potential new data would be most useful to collect next.
This research involves a diverse team working closely with defense and national security partners, which includes:
- the Alan Turing Institute
- University of Warwick
- University of Southampton
- Heriot Watt University
- Cardiff University
It is one of two successful projects funded by the Sandpit.
Advantages of a sandbox
The “lock‑in” format allowed high-quality research ideas to be filtered quickly and efficiently in a very short period of time; more than 1,500 hours were devoted to this week-long event.
The establishment of the event also raised the quality and ambition of the projects; AiTASHA not only introduces deep learning and statistical research, but will also explore areas such as human factors and AI ethics too.
Additionally, it was valuable to have direct and extensive access to government scientists and problem leaders, which meant working together from day one to create projects with real impact.