Unlocking the potential of AI with a modern data strategy

While federal agencies are increasingly turning to generative AI to enhance their operations, they face significant struggles related to data management. In a new video discussion, Garrett Berntsen, deputy chief digital and AI officer for mission analytics, CDAO, at the Department of Defense (DOD), and Mickey Iqbal, director of enterprise and principal technologists – worldwide public sector for Amazon Web Services (AWS), share insights on how these challenges are being addressed.

Berntsen says the adoption of AI in the public sector is akin to a technological revolution, requiring comprehensive changes across multiple domains, including infrastructure, training and cybersecurity. “AI is like the invention of electricity,” says Berntsen. “You have to change the way you work, the way you do cybersecurity and the way you hire.”

To tackle these challenges, the DOD has developed initiatives like the “Open Dagger” framework, aimed at integrating diverse software vendors to enhance the department’s AI infrastructure. This approach, Berntsen explains, focuses on experimentation, acquisitions and infrastructure improvements.

Iqbal adds that federal agencies also face similar challenges with data fragmentation and governance. “There needs to be a cloud-based, centralized data lake architecture to store and manage all the structured, semi-structured and unstructured data across the organization,” he says. Iqbal outlines five elements crucial for effective AI applications: a unified data platform, seamless data integration, scalable analytics, secure data governance and access to diverse large language models.

In discussing strategies to accelerate AI adoption, Iqbal recommends leveraging managed AI services like Amazon Bedrock, as well as self-service analytics, to give stakeholders the tools they need to derive insights quickly.

In addition, Berntsen stresses the importance of talent in driving AI adoption. He highlights the DOD’s AI and Data Accelerator program, which places government technologists close to the mission to facilitate AI integration. “Talent is everything,” he says, adding that empowering skilled professionals is key to overcoming the challenges of AI implementation and achieving mission-critical outcomes.

Learn more about how AWS can help government agencies transform their missions.

This video panel discussion was produced by Scoop News Group, for DefenseScoop and FedScoop, and underwritten by AWS.