Defence will fund 50 applications to solve AI problems

Defence will fund up to 50 applications to use machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to solve research and development problems, for $30,000 per proposal.

Individuals and small teams can apply for The Artificial Intelligence for Decision Making Initiative 2022, which is a joint project by the Defence Science and Technology Group, the Office of National Intelligence and the Defence AI Centre.

Successful applications to solve one of the 30 listed challenges will also be considered for progression through the Defence Artificial Intelligence Centre (DAIC), or Defence and university sectors. 

The challenges range from general AI and ML problems, such as “How can graph neural networks be applied for causal modelling?” to problems more specific to the intelligence and military sector, such as using AI for post-mortem identification, identifying deepfakes and better understanding ML & AI-based cyber attacks. 

The project follows the government's other recent initiatives to improve Australia's AI capability in the defence sector, such as a $10 million investment in 10 new defence innovation hub contracts in November last year.

The contracts were awarded to companies such Lumination to provide VR-supported military training, Droneshield to develop better systems for detecting unknown signals, and Real Response to build a "realistic medical training simulator using AI".