The U.S. Marine Corps plans to expand its Digital Transformation Teams (DTXs) as part of a four-phase effort to scale artificial intelligence (AI) across the service, according to a senior official.
During the Defense IT Summit on Feb. 26, Maj. Christopher Clark, AI lead and deputy commandant for information in the Marine Corps Service Data Office, said the Corps is nearing the end of the first phase of its plan, which consisted of standing up the DTXs.
The DTXs, launched last year as part of the Marine Corps AI implementation plan, support and measure the successful deployment of AI solutions and optimizations, as well as advise on risks and gaps.
Existing DTXs operate within the II Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Logistics Command, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific, Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, Deputy Commandant for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, and U.S. Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command. The next phase of expansion will include the remaining two Marine Expeditionary Forces, I and III.
“Phase two is now standardizing [and expanding] those teams across the enterprise,” Clark said. “What is the enhanced structure that they fall under? What is the composition of those teams? What is the talent in the teams, and then making sure they have the right number of people as well to [do] the work that they do?”
As the Corps formalizes the structure, officials are also developing talent pipelines to sustain the teams.
“Now we’re working on the talent pipelines, and how we get the talent from entry-level Marines trained up and then get them out to those teams,” Clark said.
Clark said leaders are also focused on equipping DTX members with the right tools and platforms, reducing unnecessary complexity “so they can concentrate on identifying problems and developing solutions.”
Clark said DTXs are expected to present some of the solutions they have been developing within the next few weeks.
Although he did not provide details on the exact solutions, he said some could scale across the enterprise and require governance and resourcing. Others, Clark said, could be temporary, mission-specific code that is discarded after use.