Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what purposes the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

Over the last 12 months, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has:

• Delivered the final year of an ambitious 4-year AI Science and Technology (S&T) Programme which has conducted experimentation across a range of defence use-cases for AI and developed important enabling areas of research such as AI ethics and AI assurance.
• Provided support to wider defence AI activities through the Defence AI Centre, for example Dstl’s expertise on AI Assurance significantly informed the recent publication of MOD guidance on Dependable AI in Defence, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/jsp-936-dependable-artificial-intelligence-ai-in-defence-part-1-directive.
• Worked with international partners on AI, such as the AUKUS Pillar 2 experimentation on developing Resilient and Autonomous Artificial Intelligence Technologies in order to improve international interoperability for AI-enabled systems.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/aukus-takes-another-step-forward-with-real-time-ai-trials.

• Worked closely with industry and academic partners on AI, for example via their Agile Delivery Partner which enables joint multi-disciplinary teams and academic research centres to transition civilian AI techniques into Defence applications and help strengthen the UK’s Defence AI Ecosystem.
• Continued to develop approaches to using AI to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its work, for example piloting secure access to Large Language Models and also trialling the use of AI techniques to improve exploitation of its large database of Defence Science and Technology Reports.

Dstl can draw on a range of resources, published on GOV.UK, to inform AI usage. This includes the Generative AI Framework for HMG, which has been superseded by the AI Playbook for the UK Government, as well as JSP936 covering dependable AI in defence.