Craig Martell, former head of machine learning at Lyft (Nasdaq: LYFT), has been named chief digital and artificial intelligence officer at the Department of Defense.
He will oversee efforts to advance the adoption of data, AI, analytics and digital platforms to provide warfighters decision advantage on the battlefield, DOD said Monday.
“With Craig’s appointment, we hope to see the department increase the speed at which we develop and field advances in AI, data analytics, and machine-learning technology. He brings cutting-edge industry experience to apply to our unique mission set,” said Kathleen Hicks, deputy secretary of DOD and a 2022 Wash100 Award winner.
Martell previously served as head of machine learning at file hosting service provider Dropbox (Nasdaq: DBX). Prior to Dropbox, he spent five years at LinkedIn and led AI teams and programs.
He also served as a professor of computer science at Naval Postgraduate School and specialized in natural language processing.
In February, the Pentagon established the CDAO office to bring AI and digital strategy and policy development to senior DOD leadership and appointed John Sherman, chief information officer of DOD and a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient, as acting CDAO.
