USAF-MIT AI ACCELERATOR
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“ IT ’ S ABOUT BEING MORE ACCURATE , DELIVERING BETTER LOGISTICS , WORKING ON HUMANITARIAN AID MISSIONS WHILE ALSO SAVING THE TAXPAYER DOLLARS ”
— Michael Kanaan , Director of Operations , U . S . Air Force and MIT Artificial Intelligence Accelerator
deployment on humanitarian aid missions , and using big data to illuminate weather circumstances in areas without a ground station . The projects are linked by a shared focus , as Kanaan explains . “ The most important thing is to ensure that we all have a common and shared dialogue and understanding of what AI is , what it isn ’ t , how it works , and how to walk along that journey .”
The MIT and Air Force collaboration is of a lineage with some of the most illustrious projects in the history of the United States . “ There ’ s a triangular relationship between industry , academia , and government in the United States , that ’ s very special and very storied throughout our past .” Kanaan emphasizes that it stems from a common language between government , industry , and academia which must be nurtured . “ We have to reinvigorate the relationship that , for instance , brought the internet into our homes . Artificial intelligence is something that ’ s going to be viewed as equivalent to electricity in our lives , because of the way it affects us every single day . What could be more important than something like electricity being shared by the
DECEMBER 2020