SOCOM and US Air Force Enlist Primer to Combat Disinformation

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Primer, a machine intelligence company, announced today winning a multi-million dollar Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from the United States Air Force (USAF) and Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).

Primer will develop the first-ever machine learning platform to automatically identify and assess suspected disinformation. Primer will also enhance its natural language processing platform to automatically analyze tactical events to provide commanders with unprecedented insight as events unfold in near real-time.

Primer to create first AI-powered platform to combat disinformation

In partnership with the USAF and USSOCOM, Primer will develop the first machine learning platform capable of identifying and assessing the veracity of suspected disinformation. It was previously impossible for machine learning solutions to effectively identify and extract claims, but by leveraging new approaches pioneered by Primer's in-house natural language processing researchers, Primer aims to complete initial development of these platforms within the next 12 months.

Information overload is one of the most pressing challenges facing the U.S. military. Every day, humanity creates 2.5 quintillion bytes of new data, and less than one percent of the total amount of global data has ever been analyzed. From 1995-2016, the average US intelligence analyst's daily required reading grew from 20,000 to 200,000 words per day, and is expected to grow to over 2,000,000 by 2025. The massive volume of information available, coupled with exponential growth in disinformation, underscores the fact that to fight disinformation the U.S. will need to illuminate the truth.

Primer will tailor existing AI platform to enable USSOCOM and USAF to analyze events in real-time

Primer builds software machines that read and write in English, Russian, and Chinese to automatically unearth trends and patterns across large volumes of data. The company supports the mission of the intelligence community and broader DOD by automating reading and research tasks to enhance the speed and quality of decision-making. Primer will tailor this technology to provide a continuously updating dashboard for USAF and USSOCOM operational commanders to analyze events as they unfold in real-time. This platform will automate the work typically done by dozens of analysts in a security operations center to ingest all of the data relevant to an event as it happens and funnel it into a unified user interface, including identifying trends and patterns, to quickly give commanders the most important information.

"Since 2016, we have seen AI-powered disinformation disrupt elections, critical infrastructure, and undermine the ground truth of our nation," said Sean Gourley, CEO & Founder of Primer. "We've entered a new era where information warfare and the ability for our adversaries to shape perceptions of reality are their deadliest weapons, and we're honored to work with the US Air Force and SOCOM to create first-of-its-kind AI solutions for tracking complex events and countering online disinformation."

More than 15 percent of Primer's employees previously worked within the U.S. Department of Defense or Intelligence Community. Recently, Primer added national security experts Sue Gordon, former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, as a strategic advisor, and Brett McGurk, former Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, as a member of its board. In order to support the fastest growing sector of our business, Primer opened an office in Washington D.C. last year.

About Primer

Primer is a machine intelligence company headquartered in San Francisco. We build machines that can read and write, automating the analysis of very large datasets. Primer's technology is deployed by some of the world's largest government agencies, financial institutions, and Fortune 50 companies. For more information, please visit primer.ai

About the Air Force SBIR Program

AFRL and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research process in an attempt to speed up the experience, broaden the pool of potential applicants and decrease bureaucratic overhead.  Beginning in SBIR 18.2, and now in 20.R, the Air Force has begun offering 'Special' SBIR topics that are faster, leaner and open to a broader range of innovations.

SOURCE Primer AI