In 2017, the Department of Defense launched Project Maven with the aim of integrating artificial intelligence into military operations. Both the project's backstory and its consequences promise to teach us much about modern warfare and the US national security enterprise. On this episode, John Amble and Theo Lipsky explore these lessons via a close read of Katrina Manson's new book, Project Maven: A Marine Colonel, His Team, and the Dawn of AI Warfare.

Have any thoughts of your own to add? Ideas of what to consider next? Don’t hesitate to reach out at john.amble@westpoint.edu or theodore.lipsky@westpoint.edu.

• (00:00:00) - The podcast logo and its WWII poster inspiration
• (00:03:02) - Welcome to the MWI Book Club
• (00:04:18) - Listener feedback and housekeeping notes
• (00:07:01) - Introducing Project Maven by Katrina Manson
• (00:09:57) - Executive summary of Project Maven
• (00:11:42) - Part one: framing the technology discussion
• (00:15:13) - How the military historically related to technology
• (00:18:41) - AlphaGo, Move 37, and the AI light bulb moment
• (00:23:49) - Early AI applications: drone surveillance and screeners
• (00:27:12) - Project Maven's launch and the intelligence vs. operations divide
• (00:32:33) - Speed, field-to-learn, and building Maven Smart System
• (00:35:18) - Computer vision, transformers, and large language models
• (00:38:51) - Part two: AI, data, and the character of war
• (00:41:03) - The hunt for data and dumpster diving for hard drives
• (00:43:03) - Does tactical data scale to strategic AI uses?
• (00:49:47) - Data retention, access, and applicability problems
• (00:54:33) - Ukraine, Donahue, and workflow as the key to success
• (00:56:05) - Part three: the leadership factor
• (00:58:36) - Cukor's early bureaucratic maneuvering and Palantir origins
• (01:05:42) - The Breakfast Club, Bob Work, and field-to-learn philosophy
• (01:13:47) - Bureaucratic blowback and the rise of the JAIC rivalry
• (01:17:09) - Team building, maverick culture, and personal costs
• (01:23:27) - Harnessing the private sector and the Google controversy
• (01:30:03) - Assessing Cukor's maverick leadership style
• (01:33:01) - Back matter: margin notes on war and Google's identity
• (01:37:05) - Saved rounds: personal anecdotes behind Project Maven
• (01:41:55) - Bonus reads and closing remarks