AI agent community of practice pilot competition

Abstract

There is a recognized need for accelerated research and development and transition of AI supporting DoD command and control (C2) to include but not limited to enhanced planning, wargaming, and course of action development to maintain decision dominance on the battlefield. As such the Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate (AFRL/RI) has formed the AI Agent Community of Practice (CoP) to rapidly identify, evaluate, and engage the right community members with government stakeholders to address high priority operational problem sets and AI technology challenges. The AI Agent CoP focuses on sequential decisionmaking AI to include technologies such as Reinforcement Learning, Computational Game Theory, Evolutionary Algorithms, Search, Optimization, etc. A key component of the AI Agent CoP is to use digital AI wargaming competitions to spur research and evaluate AI technology for transitioning to operational partners.In setting up the AI Agent CoP, AFRL/RI held a pilot competition, using a digital hex-based wargame. For the competition, CoP members created blue agents for a small operational scenario including naval, air, and long-range fires. The submitted agents were evaluated against a known red agent, an unknown red agent, and qualitative human evaluators. This paper reports on the pilot competition.