Jane Pinelis to Lead AI Assurance at DOD’s Joint AI Center

The Department of Defense’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center will establish a new position that will be in charge of “AI assurance.”

Jane Pinelis, the former head of test and evaluation at JAIC, will serve as the organization’s new chief of AI assurance. She will work to ensure that users of artificial intelligence across the department can have confidence in their algorithms, FedScoop reported.

In an email to FedScoop, Pinelis said that she will go beyond formal test methods and will establish AI trustworthiness through a combination of formal reasoning and qualitative logic. She said her method will allow JAIC to tailor its assurance arguments to specific users.

“A warfighter needs a different set of evidence to trust a system than an acquisition official or an international ally,” Pinelis told FedScoop.

As chief of AI assurance, she will report to JAIC Director Lt. Gen. Michael Groen, a speaker at a past Potomac Officers Club event. Pinelis will also serve as a superior to the new heads of test and evaluation and responsible AI.

Pinelis has a background in statistical analysis and research, JAIC said in a LinkedIn post. She has held various roles at the Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, the Institute of Defense Analyses and the U.S. Marine Corps.

In 2021, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, a 2021 Wash100 winner, stressed the need for responsible and ethical AI implementation as the DOD moves to integrate the technology with more systems.

The Pentagon is following five responsible AI principles—responsible, equitable, traceable, reliable and governable—collectively geared toward creating technically competent AI technologies that maximize human control and minimize unintended consequences.