Air Force tests AI support for promotion boards

Summary

Air Force leaders said the service is testing AI to automate parts of promotion boards, while keeping final decisions in human hands.

Why this matters

The story shows how the military is beginning to apply AI to personnel management while trying to set limits on its use. It also highlights how the services are weighing efficiency gains against ethical and oversight concerns.

The Air Force has assembled an artificial intelligence action team to help leaders address ethical questions, improve AI literacy across the force, and identify new uses for the technology, the service’s top enlisted leader said this month.

Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force David Wolfe said May 8 at an event hosted by the Military Officers Association of America that one possible use was support for screening and ranking in promotion boards.

“We don’t really do talent management in the Air Force; we do replacement management,” Wolfe said. “And that’s on us, to try to get way better at that.”

Wolfe said the administrative and policy requirements involved in matching people to jobs had become “way too long of a list.”

“I get why we do that, but what ends up happening quite frequently is, it might not be the right person at the right place, and we have definitely got to do better,” he said.

Wolfe said he began assembling the team in December, within a week of taking the senior enlisted post, after a question from the audience at a service forum. He said the group started with about 30 Air Force officers and enlisted personnel and has grown to about 100, with priority given to people familiar with recent AI developments.

Last fall, Army officials said they were integrating AI into promotion boards to screen out noncompetitive candidates and reduce the number of decisions made by humans. In late April, Navy officials said they were expanding a pilot program that recommended sailors’ next jobs based on skills and experience.

At the same forum on May 9, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John Perryman said about 500 sailors had taken an AI orientation course.

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