Wide-ranging artificial intelligence-based prototypes emerged from a hackathon jointly organized by Google Cloud and the United Kingdom‘s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory to accelerate safe and responsible AI adoption across the U.K. defense sector.
According to a press release from the British government, the hackathon winners included a large language model that scans for cyberthreats to another that analyzes images for predictive maintenance. Geared for possible funding, the winning ideas have been presented to the Ministry of Defence for further testing of their practical potential.
The two-day hackathon, held during Google Cloud Next by Google Cloud AI engineers, drew 20 teams composed of over 200 members, including Dstl scientists and representatives from the Royal Navy other defense organizations.
“Dstl and Google Cloud brought together a hugely diverse range of participants on behalf of the MOD’s newly established DAIC, to learn, experiment and solve real-world defence problems with innovative AI technologies,” Dstl Chief Technical Officer Andy Bell said in a statement.
“This hackathon has demonstrated how creative problem-solving can be harnessed to address pressing defense challenges, paving the way for breakthroughs in generative AI for defense applications.”
The event, an initiative under a memorandum of understanding that Dstl and Google Cloud signed in June, was organized on behalf of MoD’s Defence AI Centre.