DARPA'S Information Processing Technology Office: Developing Cognitive Systems

In 2002 DARPA re-energized its Information Processing Technology Office (IPTO), and rededicated its attention to modern Computer Science by looking both to its roots and to a dramatic vision of the future. When the original IPTO was created in 1962, its director, J.C.R. Licklider, focused the office on his novel vision of computers and humans working closely together in a form of symbiosis. Forty years later, the new IPTO wants to realize this vision by giving computing systems unprecedented abilities to reason, to learn, to explain, to accept advice, and to reflect, in order to finally create systems able to cope robustly with unforeseen circumstances. IPTO's goal is to create a new generation of cognitive systems.

Our new office agenda combines work in a number of disciplines, looking to build integrated intelligent systems that improve their performance over time in many different ways. We also seek to improve our understanding of how to evaluate progress in this multidisciplinary area, and to determine and resolve the most important technical risks to the long-term vision. I will outline our overall vision of cognitive systems as systems that truly know what they're doing, and show how our current and emerging funding programs fit into the overall vision. I will also present briefly some of our newer programs and potential upcoming opportunities for the research community to work with our office to help us realize our ambitious goals.