U.S. Air Force funds further development of an AI/ML platform to analyze public information and identify narratives (PEAKMETRICS) — a federal contract (USAspending)
A federal contract in which the U.S. Air Force awarded PEAKMETRICS INC further development of a platform that uses AI and machine learning to analyze publicly available information, such as news and social media, and identify narratives spreading in the public sphere. The contract value is $1,848,853.
Contract key facts
- RecipientPEAKMETRICS INC
- Contract value$1,848,853 (≈$1.8M)
- Awarding agencyDepartment of Defense
- Awarding sub-agencyDepartment of the Air Force
- Award typeDEFINITIVE CONTRACT
- Period of performance2024-06-25 〜 2026-06-24
- Contract ID (PIID)FA557024C0003
Contract scope (original)
FURTHER DEVELOP THE COMMERCIAL PUBLICLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION (PAI) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)/MACHINE LEARNING (ML) NARRATIVE IDENTIFICATION PLATFORM.
Key points
- Awarded by the Department of Defense, Department of the Air Force; recipient is PEAKMETRICS INC; PIID is FA557024C0003.
- Contract value is $1,848,853.
- Scope is further development of a platform that uses AI/ML on publicly available information (PAI) to identify narratives (source).
- "PAI" means openly available public information such as news and social media; a "narrative" is the flow of discourse spreading in public.
- Specific deliverables, features, and timelines are not stated in the source.
- Publicly available information is what anyone can obtain; a narrative is the flow of discourse spreading about a topic.
1What publicly available information means
Here, "publicly available information (PAI)" refers to information that anyone can obtain openly, such as news articles and social media posts. A "narrative" is the storyline or flow of discourse that spreads through the public sphere around an event or topic.
According to the source, this contract is for the "further development" of a platform that uses AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning (ML, technology that learns patterns from large volumes of data) to analyze such public information and identify what discourse is spreading and how.
2A way to read the information environment
Work of this kind draws attention because it concerns the means of understanding the information environment itself. Public information is vast and updated daily, making it difficult to grasp the whole picture by human effort alone, which underlies the demand for technology that extracts patterns automatically.
What specific analytical features this contract provides, or what results it has produced, is not described in the source, so no inference is made here.
3Buying AI and ML from a private firm
Viewed more broadly, this contract is one example of the federal government procuring AI/ML technology from an outside private company (here, PEAKMETRICS).
Contract records on USAspending offer a way to track how much budget the government allocates to technology in which fields, and they serve as a reference point for understanding AI-related procurement trends and the flow of public funds into the emerging area of information-environment analysis.
4What the two terms refer to
The summary of this contract combines two unfamiliar words. Separating what each refers to brings the object into view.
| Term | What it refers to |
|---|---|
| Publicly available information (PAI) | Information anyone can obtain — news articles, social media posts |
| Narrative | The flow of stories and discourse spreading through the world about an event or topic |
The source states that the contract further develops a platform analysing such public information with AI and machine learning to identify what discourse is spreading and how. Public information is vast and updated daily, making the whole picture hard to grasp by hand, which is the background to demand for extracting patterns mechanically. Specific analytical functions and results do not appear in the source.
Why it matters
This contract is one example of the federal government procuring AI/ML technology from a private company. It indicates that public funds are flowing into the area of automated analysis of public information, serving as a reference point for businesses in related fields and for those tracking procurement trends. Specific results or ripple effects are not stated in the source and are not assessed here.
FAQ
What does this contract develop?
What is "publicly available information (PAI)"?
What is the contract value?
Sources (primary)
This article is an independent organization based on the U.S. official spending data below. Verify the exact, latest details with the official source.
- USAspending (award details)
- Contract ID (PIID):FA557024C0003