The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has announced the formation of the Defence Centre for AI Research (DCAR).
The step has been taken, in collaboration with the Alan Turing Institute, as part of the Defence AI Strategy and to align with the recently established Defence AI Centre.
The DCAR has been funded through the Ministry of Defence’s Chief Scientific Advisor and will focus on problems in advancing an artificial intelligence capability in the sector.
Dstl said it will work in areas including low short learning – the ability to train machines to learn without the need for vast amounts of data – the application of AI to war gaming, understanding the limits of AI models, managing multiple sensors and human-centric AI. It will also investigate the associated ethics.
It added that in many cases the outcomes could be of interest to the wider UK economy.
New posts
The establishment of the centre is expected to result in the creation of five to eight new academic posts starting from September 2022, with the potential to grow further.
Glen Hart, senior principal scientist from Dstl, commented: “The DCAR will be a centre of excellence which provides real focus to developing and applying AI ethically in defence contexts.”
