Artificial intelligence (AI) is critical to enabling action at the speed of the digital battlespace – which is faster than a human's ability to process and act on multiple sources of incoming data. Pairing high-quality data with AI is bringing about a new era of defense operations as commanders are poised to make better informed data-driven decisions with the power of technology, helping them power their real-time decision advantage.

One of the challenges  defense organizations face to fully embrace the benefits of tapping AI to unlock the value of data  is the level of trust on AI systems and its outputs. Trustworthy AI refers to AI systems that are explainable, fair, interpretable, robust, transparent, safe and secure. These qualities create trust and confidence in AI systems among stakeholders and end users. A new global collaboration between IBM and the recognized defense intelligence company Janes aims to bridge this gap as it integrates open-source defense and security intelligence data into a trusted AI and data platform, IBM’s watsonx.

This collaboration will build the foundation to enable defense leaders’ access to high-quality data infused with trusted AI to improve their decision advantage by integrating the IBM watsonx AI and data platform utilizing an IBM Granite model with a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pattern with Janes data. This RAG pattern can provide operational decision support, assisting military and intelligence analysts by generating comprehensive, data-augmented reports for situational analysis and decision making. In addition, AI-assisted scenario modelling and retrieval-augmented data analysis will enable more informed mission planning, helping defense teams anticipate challenges and mitigate risks.

The opportunities offered by trusted AI for national security and defense organizations are many and vary from country to country. Making Janes’ open-source defense and security intelligence data accessible to defense leaders on IBM’s watsonx AI and data platform supports the safe, secure, and trustworthy development and use of AI from headquarters to the tactical edge.

Through our collaboration with Janes, defense leaders will be enabled to more easily collaborate with allies across departments, agencies, and countries to accelerate decision making, boost operational readiness, and enhance national security with strong governance. IBM is leading in the development of responsible AI solutions with our AI platform, IBM watsonx, including watsonx.governance, to help organizations adopt AI safely, responsibly, and innovatively with an end-to-end, automated governance solution specifically built to help mitigate AI risks and improve compliance. This collaboration is a step forward in augmenting the human decision-making in national security and defense organizations in a responsible way.