Back to top

Driving the future of customer missions with Trusted Mission AI

 

In the rapidly evolving technology landscape, Leidos’ two decades of experience developing and delivering AI have led us to a clear focus: Trusted Mission AI. We combine cutting-edge technology with a deep understanding of customer missions to deliver AI solutions that are not just innovative but also transformative. These solutions are designed to provide significant improvements in efficiency and decision-making while delivering powerful new mission capabilities.

Trust is a foundational element for us. Without trust, AI cannot fully enable the mission transformations we seek. Our approach aims to ensure that AI becomes a true partner to humans, acting as a force multiplier in mission-critical environments. Whether it's supporting defense, healthcare, or civil operations, we aim to deliver AI that enhances outcomes with speed and efficiency, but always with trust at the core.

Enabling missions across markets

AI is a technology with the potential to transform industries. As we often say, "the mission is the market," meaning we view AI as a key tool to transform all data-centric work, not as a standalone market unto itself. AI’s real value lies in its ability to improve customer missions by driving performance to new heights.

Our focus is on how AI can elevate mission performance across sectors. AI can achieve remarkable things, often outperforming humans; but it can also fail in unexpected ways. That’s why building trust is such a complex, yet essential process.

Humans are accustomed to human failures; we’ve had millennia to understand our own limitations. AI, on the other hand, is new, and we’re just beginning to understand its failure modes. This uncertainty makes it even more crucial to develop AI solutions that are predictable, transparent, and trustworthy.

Mission impact doesn’t happen if AI isn’t trusted by the humans who rely on it. Trust is non-negotiable.

Design-to-Trust: Building confidence in AI

At Leidos, building trust in AI begins with what we call Design-to-Trust. This approach addresses all the key pillars necessary to build AI that is trusted and trustworthy. Our Framework for AI Resilience and Security (FAIRS) provides the technical building blocks for essential trust elements like accuracy, explainability, security, and fairness. Additionally, our 4A Methodology introduces AI gradually, allowing users to build trust organically as they move from AI systems that provide assistance and augmentation to those that operate with greater autonomy. Finally, our AI governance ties these elements together in a comprehensive framework that offers a scalable approach to managing AI risk both within individual programs and across the enterprise.

By ensuring transparency and accountability in AI design and focusing on human-machine partnerships, we help users gain trust over time, aiming to transform AI from a tool to a trusted partner in mission-critical operations.

Investing in innovation and people

Additionally, Leidos is committed not only to technological innovation but also to the upskilling of our workforce. We recognize that AI is a rapidly advancing field, and we must continuously invest in both technology and talent. This means not just hiring and training data scientists and AI engineers, but also upskilling our whole workforce to be ready for AI-driven transformation.

Our investments in key technology areas ensure that we remain at the forefront of AI advancements. Just as important, we are creating a culture of continuous learning, where employees are empowered to innovate and develop the skills needed to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

What’s next?

At Leidos, Trusted Mission AI is more than a strategy—it’s an approach that aims to reshape the industry and set new standards for mission success. By focusing on trust, enhancing mission outcomes, and investing in both technology and people, our goal is to integrate AI into the most critical of operations.

 

Learn more about how Leidos applies Trusted Mission AI

Author
Ron Keesing
Ron Keesing Chief AI Officer

Ron Keesing is the Chief AI Officer at Leidos, where he oversees the enterprise strategy for AI, guiding internal and customer-facing initiatives, technology partnerships, workforce initiatives in AI, and risk-based governance.  

Ron has been leading groundbreaking research and delivering advanced technology in AI for over 25 years. He has done pioneering work on research programs addressing many of the nation’s toughest challenges, from forecasting cyber threats and political instability to discovering new potential cancer treatments and creating the first generation of autonomous systems for spacecraft command and control. He has successfully transitioned numerous research technologies into operational programs for the DOD and Intelligence Community.

As a Leidos Technical Fellow, he has authored papers and patents in diverse computer science and AI subfields and advises organizations like the Center for New American Security, where he is a member of the AI Governance Forum. His current research focuses on enhancing resilience, security, assurance, and user trust in AI, particularly with emerging generative AI technologies.

Ron holds a B.S. and M.S. from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland.

Posted

November 14, 2024

ESTIMATED READ TIME

Author