Even the smartest AI model is merely a fancy gadget without quality data, which is the essential ingredient for driving innovation and efficiency, a Marine Corps data expert said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the SAP Federal Forum 2024 on Oct. 29, Dr. Colin Crosby, who is the service data officer for the Marine Corps, emphasized the importance of data management and the crucial role of data quality in leveraging AI.
“AI doesn’t just magically know your data. It doesn’t magically know your organization. It doesn’t magically know your agency,” Crosby said. “Understanding how we integrate AI into our ecosystem starts back with the data enveloping that integrated actionable information ecosystem.”
According to Crosby, agencies need to develop policies to navigate the “data swamp” to create quality data that will drive innovation and operational efficiencies.
“I mean, that’s where we need to develop policies,” Crosby said. “We have to upskill and educate our workforce, and we must invest in the tools, technology, and people to navigate about 30 years’ worth of so-called swamp that we have to deal with. There’s no way around it. The only way to tackle this is to lean into it and empower our workforce to face this challenge today because it’s not going away.”
That principle, Crosby explained, is a primary focus in the Marine Corps AI Strategy, which was released on July 10 to guide the integration of AI technology across the service branch.
The top objective in the strategy is to fully understand mission-specific problems where AI offers a solution. Under this effort, the service branch plans to establish a repository for “candidate AI use cases” and a data management system for the use case process designed to guide service-level decisions and activities.
The Deputy Commandant for Information Service Data Office has been tasked with overseeing this effort, which is managed by Crosby’s office.
“As we move forward, we’re learning and innovating across the entire Marine Corps,” Crosby said. “We aim to create a system that looks at tactical integration and feeds information back through the service data office, which my office manages. There are many moving parts, and no one person can do it all. We need a collective effort to succeed.”
