Pentagon’s first chief AI officer leaves after two years

The first leader of the fledgling Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office [CDAO] in the US Department of Defense is leaving his post, but the Pentagon already has a successor lined up.

Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer Craig Martell, the first head of the CDAO, was hired by the Pentagon in April 2022, just after the new office unofficially launched in January. He will be replaced by Radha Plumb, who is currently serving as the deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, the Pentagon announced Thursday.

“There is no doubt that Dr. Plumb’s technical expertise and strategic acumen will enhance the CDAO’s innovative efforts, and help accelerate the DOD’s adoption of data, analytics, and AI to generate decision advantage from the boardroom to the battlefield,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

Before joining the DOD in early 2020, Plumb had served as director of trust and safety for research and insights at Google and as global head of policy analysis and head of product for policy research at Facebook. She is scheduled to take over CDAO on April 8.

Martell had previously served as head of machine learning at Lyft and as head of machine intelligence at Dropbox. He previously led AI initiatives at LinkedIn. The DOD didn’t disclose the reason for his departure.

The CDAO was formed through the merger of four DOD organizations: Advana, the DOD’s big data and analytics office; the chief data officer; the Defense Digital Service; and the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.

Strategic data initiatives

During Martell’s tenure, the CDAO created the foundation for AI-based defense systems, by establishing five strategic initiatives to enable AI use at the DOD in fiscal year 2023, according to the DOD. Among those five initiatives were improved data quality and business performance metrics, along with better digital employee management.

In addition, the CDAO began offering a new Digital On-Demand service in November to improve AI knowledge in the military. The new program provided access to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Horizon’s library of learning resources to all members of the DOD military and civilian workforce.

The MIT Horizon online platform offers short training modules on AI and other emerging technologies, including 5G, edge computing, and big data analytics.

Martell’s relatively short time on the job shouldn’t raise red flags, said Avivah Litan, a distinguished vice president analyst covering AI at Gartner. “Two years on the job seems just about right for this new type of role, especially for an executive coming from dynamic leading private sector companies such as Lyft, Dropbox, and LinkedIn,” she said. 

The role of chief AI officer is still new: The US Department of Justice has just appointed its first CAIO. Organizations are trying to figure out what responsibilities the position should have, Litan said.

“Oftentimes, other executives in the organizations are not able to understand what the chief AI officer is actually accomplishing,” she said.  “Nonetheless, Craig Martell seems to have achieved a great deal in his short tenure at DoD and I am guessing that the large bureaucracy couldn’t keep up with him.”

Martell seems to have laid the groundwork and roadmap for the new chief AI officer, she added. “I expect Radha Plumb will be able to carry the torch forward effectively and responsibly.”