The Biden-era Air Force awarded nearly $750,000 to develop an artificial intelligence-powered virtual reality simulator for Air Force Academy cadets to practice conversations involving diversity, equity and inclusion, internal records show.
Smarter Reality LLC was awarded the contract to develop the simulator for the Air Force Academy, according to records obtained by the Functional Government Initiative (FGI). Dubbed the âConflict Resolution Simulator,â the program was designed to combine virtual reality, natural language processing, voice recognition and AI to allow cadets to rehearse conversations with a virtual companion.
FGI obtained the records through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and criticized the project as evidence that the Biden administration placed progressive priorities ahead of military readiness.
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) awarded Smarter Reality LLC contract FA864922P1122 on July 20, 2022, for $749,895. The federal governmentâs USAspending database also identifies the award to Smarter Reality.
The U.S. Air Force did not provide comment in time for publication. Smarter Reality did not respond to a request for comment.
âCadets and junior personnel struggle conducting difficult conversations related to honor, diversity and inclusion and leadership and discipline,â an Air Force project slide states.
Existing role-playing exercises were âinsufficient practice for rising leaders to lead the diverse force of the future,â according to the records.
The proposal itself was titled âConflict Resolution Simulator: Empowering Rising USAF Leaders with an AI-Enabled Virtual Reality Simulation to Practice Difficult Conversations (Mentoring, Diversity and Inclusion, Honor),â according to an Air Force evaluation document.
Smarter Reality described the simulator as a conversation trainer for practicing âmission-essential conversationsâ involving leadership, discipline, diversity, equity and inclusion, and honor, according to Smarter Reality work-plan material in the internal records. The virtual companion could respond to spoken input and change its behavior based on factors including the userâs attitude, conversational choices and the characterâs background.
The system would also display the virtual characterâs facial expressions and body language. After completing a scenario, users could review their choices and analytics before replaying the conversation and experimenting with different approaches.
The project was designed to support the Air Force Academyâs honor training and use realistic conversations âfocused on honor but extensible to leadership and DEI,â according to the internal documents.
Then-Air Force Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard Clark also backed the concept, according to an Air Force slideshow included in the records.
âThe provides the Center for Character and Leadership Development with a dialogue driven trainer that uses a blend of virtual reality, natural language processing and voice recognition,â Clark said, according to an academy slideshow in the documents.
An âalphaâ version of the simulator had been digitally provided to the Air Force Academy using the Academyâs Oculus virtual reality headset, Smarter Reality reported on Feb. 9, 2023, according to the records.
Academy representatives were able to use the headset and experience the simulation, according to the company.
Images included in the records show virtual cadet avatars inside a simulated Air Force Academy gym, along with a virtual office environment.
The contract included a series of milestones leading toward a final prototype. Smarter Reality was tasked with building the user interface, natural language processing system, virtual reality environment and initial scenario before delivering playable and alpha versions of the simulator.
The company was also expected to train up to three Air Force users on the system.
The projectâs testing goals included demonstrating the prototype to 40 cadets serving as Character and Honor Liaisons and recruiting at least five Character and Honor Leaders as hands-on testers. The project also called for at least three product discovery or design sessions involving cadets and instructors.
The available records do not make clear how many cadets ultimately used the simulator, whether the final prototype was delivered and accepted, or whether the program remains in use.
The records also do not establish how much of the approximately $750,000 award was ultimately paid to Smarter Reality. USAspending.gov reports $0 in outlays and flags the award as not linked to a federal account, which FGI characterized as a known Defense Department financial-data reporting gap. FGI said the records do not establish final payment.
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