Mark Bailey

The hottest advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning come with risks and potential unintended consequences, including the control of critical systems and weaponry. Dr. Mark Bailey, who writes about the intersection between artificial intelligence, complexity, and national security, is helping ensure that decision makers understand the unpredictability of evolving technologies before the risks outweigh the benefits to a potentially disastrous degree. “We are at this precipice where the decisions we make now as this technology continues to develop could have significant consequences down the road,” Bailey said at the NIU AI Safety Symposium in June. He is a faculty member at the National Intelligence University, where he is the Department Chair for Cyber Intelligence and Data Science, as well as the Co-Director of the Data Science Intelligence Center. Previously, he worked as a data scientist on several AI programs at the U.S. Department of Defense and in the Intelligence Community. He is also an Officer in the U.S. Army Reserve. “We need to get the alignment issue right now because it will become more complex as systems become more generalized and involved in day-to-day activities,” Bailey said, encouraging communication between the intelligence community and academia and warning that “disillusion of the concept of truth is a huge national security issue.”