How a small Air Force team used Vertex AI to overhaul their manual processes in just 90 days

The U.S. Air Force Chief Data and AI Office sought to overhaul and accelerate processes within the Air Force. They wanted to explore how Generative AI could help modernize current processes, which were draining the time and energy of service members and directly impacting their mission to supply airpower anytime, anywhere. Streamlining processes would allow Airmen to dedicate more time to their core mission and less to administrative tasks.

One process they identified as potentially benefiting from Generative AI technologies was their e-Publishing website. This site is home to thousands of documents that active duty, associated civilians, guard, and reserve service members use to check non-classified policies and regulations, such as dress and personal appearance standards or specified career field operations. The existing system was cumbersome and overloaded with information, making navigation difficult and time-consuming. Airmen often struggled to find policies they needed to reference, while new members could be saddled with hours of sorting and sifting to learn what would be expected of them.

The Airmen that worked with Google Cloud on this project consisted of volunteers with various skills, ranging from project management to UX development. These volunteers could dedicate six to eight hours a week on top of their normal duties, which meant they had a strict deadline in mind. They also needed to complete the project and showcase it to their leadership within 90 days.

After evaluating the different models available through Vertex AI, the team chose Vertex AI Search and Conversation (formerly Generative App Builder) to build a new portal. This portal would allow users to search, browse, and read e-Publishing PDFs.

Using these tools, the small team of volunteer developers was able to create a fully functional search portal and chatbot within their 90-day deadline.

Choosing Vertex AI gave the Air Force team several key advantages. The platform caters to developers across the spectrum, from seasoned AI/ML experts to those just starting out. For example, the Dialogflow tool allowed developers to build hybrid agents that combined the power of precise conversation controls with the flexibility of generative AI. This enabled the creation of chatbots capable of handling complex conversations while offering a natural and engaging user experience. These tools brought Airmen with different skill sets together and allowed them to choose how involved they wanted the development process to be. Ultimately, Vertex AI Search and Conversation made the thousands of PDFs easily searchable and consumable. The Air Force team dramatically reduced a process that once took hours down to just a minute, demonstrating the potential of AI to transform workflows within the Department of Defense (DoD).