NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on Monday named David Salvagnini the agency’s new chief artificial intelligence (AI) officer, effective immediately. This role is an expansion of Salvagnini’s current role as Chief Data Officer.
At NASA, we work to benefit humanity by supporting missions and research projects across NASA, analyzing data to uncover trends and patterns, and developing systems that can autonomously support spacecraft and aircraft. Various AI tools are used.
“Artificial intelligence has been used safely at NASA for decades, and the pace of discovery is likely to accelerate as this technology expands,” Nelson said. “It is important that we remain at the forefront of progress and responsible use. In this new role, David will lead his NASA efforts to ensure the responsible use of AI in space and Earth to benefit all humanity.” It will guide its use.”
This appointment builds on President Biden’s Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. Salvagnini is currently responsible for coordinating strategic vision and planning the use of AI across NASA. He serves as his AI innovation champion, supporting the development of tools, platforms, training and risk management.
Salvagnini will continue to collaborate with other government agencies, academic institutions, industry partners, and other experts to expand its capabilities and ensure NASA remains on the cutting edge of AI technology.
Salvagnini joined NASA in June 2023 after more than 20 years as a technology leader in the intelligence community. Prior to his position at NASA, he served as Director of the Architecture and Integration Group and Chief Architect in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Salvagnini also held various roles leading enterprise-level IT research and development, engineering, and operations driving data, IT, and artificial intelligence programs. David served in the Air Force for 21 years, retiring in May 2005 as a communications and computer systems officer.
NASA supports our goals and mission in everything from screening Earth science images to identifying regions of interest, finding data on planets outside our solar system from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, and scheduling communications from the space telescope. We continue to develop recommendations for leveraging emerging AI technologies to achieve maximum potential. such as the Mars rover via the Perseverance deep space network.
Prior to Salvagnini’s appointment, Kate Calvin, NASA’s chief scientist, served as NASA’s acting director of AI.
Learn more about artificial intelligence at NASA below.
https://www.nasa.gov/artificial-intelligence
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Faith McKee / Jennifer Doeren
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
faith.d.mckie@nasa.gov / jennifer.m.dooren@nasa.gov
