Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Michael Groen, director of the Department of Defense’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) is hoping the services will embrace and adopt innovation across the force this upcoming year, CQ reports.

“What we’re trying to do is generate scale across the department to transform the department in three primary ways: transform the warfighting aspects of the department, transform the support enterprises in the department … and then transform the business practices,” said Groen.

The FY19 NDAA allocated approximately $841 million for artificial intelligence efforts across the department; JAIC’s request was $290.7 million.

A new policy approved by Congress gives JAIC the ability to enter into contracts with developers of artificial intelligence technologies. This move Groen says will motivate smaller technology firms to bid on Pentagon contracts. Ultimately, JAIC’s strategy is shifting to emulate processes and technology well-established in the private sector.

“Almost every process that we execute here in the Department of Defense I think somebody would do well to sit back and think ‘how would an online company do that’ or ‘how would a web services company do this,’” Groen said.

Photo by Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Jacob Osborne