Bart Kemper, PE, DFE attended the International Studies Association (ISA) ISA South 2023 event in Atlanta. The theme was “Humanity and Numbers: The Impact of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI) on International Relations.” Accordingly, Bart’s topic was “Artificial Intelligence, Open Source Software, Trust, and their implications in foreign relations“. This combined his decades of international work, in and out of the military, with his ongoing efforts regarding Artificial Intelligence as well as the impact of software design when integrated into equipment systems. This also builds upon Bart’s past examination of AI and stochastic terrorism.
In March Bart presented at the 2023 Annual ISA Conference, which was much larger and was held in Montréal, Canada. The panel was “Complexity & Security: Theorizing Within and Beyond Limits”, and his presentation was “Security and Infrastructure Design.” He was the only person in the panel who had worked professionally in security matters.
These speaking engagements are part of the company’s outreach work to speak about engineering issues. The vast majority of the participants are International Relations professionals and academics whereas Bart was speaking “as a practitioner.” In this professional arena there are the topics of infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence, engineering R&D, etc. and there is generally no one that can speak “truth to power”. While the sessions were lightly attended, he was able to speak to current events in the field, including NICET’s formation of the Systems Software Integrator certification program and how that can work in different systems while meeting government requirements such as documenting the Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) and the Artificial Intelligence testing. Fellow Army vet Eric Lake shared the panel with him.
Engineers need to do more than just talk to each other. We have to be willing to go where the decisions are being made, or inform the people who are going to be in those rooms. Bart also chaired the session “Diverse Geopolitical Analyses” with discussant Michael McKoy.
Bart Kemper’s schedule during ISA South’s 2023 meeting, Humanity and Numbers: The Impact of Data Science and Artificial
Intelligence (AI) on International Relations
The policy making process relies upon information at every step. AI’s increasing influence in media as well as in analysis work underlines the need for trustworthy systems.
The Systems Software Integrator is currently targeted for integration with conventional equipment, but it is also a role with trustworthy AI by having a person “in the loop” or “on the loop” to assure the AI is stable and within its bounds.
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