CENTCOM hires first-ever AI adviser as it fields new tech in Middle East

Jared Szuba

Apr 19, 2023

A US Black Hawk helicopter takes off from Britain's RFA Cardigan Bay landing ship in the Gulf waters off Bahrain stand next to a rigid-hull inflatable boat during the International Maritime Exercise (IMX), on November 5, 2019. - IMX is a joint military exercise involving assets and personnel from more than 50 partner nations and seven international organisations. The US has pushed for the creation of a US-led operation dubbed the International Maritime Security Construct to safeguard trade and the flow of o — A US Black Hawk helicopter takes off from Britain's RFA Cardigan Bay landing ship in the Gulf waters off Bahrain next to a rigid-hull inflatable boat during the International Maritime Exercise on Nov. 5, 2019. — KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images

WASHINGTON — US CENTCOM became the first geographic combatant command to hire a tech industry veteran to serve in a top advisory role on artificial intelligence Wednesday as the Pentagon strives to maintain a technological edge over China.

Andrew Moore, a former top AI executive at Google Cloud and dean of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, will also advise CENTCOM’s headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, on machine learning, cloud computing, data analytics and robotics.

“Dr. Andrew Moore brings a level of expertise in AI that is unparalleled,” CENTCOM commander Michael Kurilla said Wednesday. “He is a titanic figure in all the areas in which we plan to expand CENTCOM.”

Moore’s hiring marks a win for the military’s relations with Silicon Valley as the Pentagon has struggled to scout talent in recent years in the wake of public controversies over the ethical dilemmas posed by autonomous systems in warfare.