For Dr. Sims, that means involvement in issues that go well beyond AI strategy and workflow to talent, governance, and managing return on investment. AI is not a new concept at MITRE. He explains that the nonprofit had about “a six-decade set of practices and research around it.” Many of the earlier implementations were lab- or sponsor-focused and aimed at unique problem sets, though they weren’t of value to the entire workforce. That changed with the emergence of large language models, which spawned generative AI (GenAI) capabilities such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The enterprise crafted its own internal version, called MITRE MChat, which Dr. Sims says “allows our workforce to do some unique things in that space.”

Just more then a year after the technology’s March 2023 debut, nearly 4,000 consistent and unique users are sharing use cases, solutions, and benefits they have received. “This has been the fastest-adopted enterprise technology that we have ever had in our infrastructure,” says Dr. Sims, who notes that use crosses engineering and non-engineering staff equally and includes everyone from AI experts to those who perhaps want to upskill to improve their career opportunities. “Is there a skills gap? Of course. And not everybody’s gap needs to be fully closed,” he says.

In its quest to build an AI-literate workforce, MITRE has prioritized meeting those users where they are—from beginner to expert—offering formal classes and easing them into the workflow changes that AI will inevitably bring. Dr. Sims points to a multilevel prompt-engineering class that is taught as part of the company’s MITRE University, which allows employees to gain an understanding of the basics of prompt engineering.