DARPA eyes artificial intelligence (AI), cyber warfare, and information security

ARLINGTON, Va. – U.S. military researchers are reaching out to industry for innovative ideas in artificial intelligence (AI); resilient, adaptable, and secure systems; cyber operations; and confidence in information.
Officials of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency issued a broad agency announcement (HR001125S0002) on Monday for the Information Innovation Office (I2O) Office-Wide project.
AI and machine learning
This project seeks transformational capabilities in information and computer technologies able to surprise adversaries and maintain advantages for national security. Key thrust areas are AI; resilient, adaptable, and secure systems; cyber warfare; and confidence in information.
Proficient AI seeks to advance the state of the art of AI; apply AI to new capabilities for national security; and develop techniques to advanced enemy AI systems.
Related: Military researchers seek to use artificial intelligence (AI) to uncover cyber security vulnerabilities
The biggest challenge involves creating safe, secure, and trustworthy systems for national security missions that are able to withstand attacks by skilled adversaries. One area of particular interest is accelerating the pace of science and engineering for national security applications.
Resilient, adaptable, and secure systems aims to enhance the security and resilience of new and legacy software, with a focus on practical and scalable approaches, with an emphasis on formal methods development while leveraging AI and machine learning techniques that capitalize on open-source software.
Cyber-secure systems
Advantage in cyber operations will use state-of-the-art AI and secure resilient system technologies to produce trustworthy cyber tools and capabilities that operate beyond the capacity or speed of humans.
Confidence in the information domain focuses on military information security, detecting information attacks, measuring the health of military information, and recording the digital dust people leave behind when interacting with digital devices.
Related: Assured Information Security (AIS) eyes cyber warfare, trusted computing, and information security research
This technology also involves the transport level, which delivers electronic messages in many forms and with various gradations of observability. Researchers are looking for unconventional computational approaches that are outside the mainstream, challenge accepted assumptions, and have the potential to change established practices.
Companies interested should submit abstracts to the DARPA BAA Tool online at Those submitting promising abstracts may be invited to submit full proposals.
Email questions and concerns to DARPA at [email protected]. More information is online at
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