DARPA invests ~$4.04M in SAIL-ON, the science of AI facing the unexpected — SRI International (USAspending)
SRI International won the base phase of DARPA's "SAIL-ON" (Science of Artificial Intelligence and Learning for Open-World Novelty) program, worth about $4.04 million ($4,038,005). The research tackles a core question of real-world deployment: how does an AI detect and adapt to situations its training never anticipated?
Contract key facts
- RecipientSRI INTERNATIONAL
- Contract value$4,038,005 (≈$4M)
- Awarding agencyDepartment of Defense
- Awarding sub-agencyDefense Contract Management Agency
- Award typeDEFINITIVE CONTRACT
- Period of performance2019-11-22 〜 2021-05-31
- Contract ID (PIID)HR001120C0040
Contract scope (original)
SCIENCE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND LEARNING FOR OPEN-WORLD NOVELTY (SAIL-ON) - BASE (PHASE 1)
Key points
- SRI won the base phase of DARPA's SAIL-ON (science of AI and learning for open-world novelty). ~$4.04M ($4,038,005).
- Definitive contract, performance November 2019 – May 2021.
- The question — can AI detect and adapt to situations training never anticipated — is the heart of real-world reliability.
- DARPA runs multiple teams in parallel on the same problem (PAR and others also won) — the competitive-research pattern.
- SRI is the nonprofit institute that produced the prototype of Siri.
Much of today's AI performs well in "the world it saw in training," but when it meets situations training never anticipated — novelty — it can keep quietly getting things wrong. Unlike the lab, real operations change the rules and produce objects and tactics never seen before. SAIL-ON is DARPA's program to build the scientific principles for how AI detects and adapts to this "open-world novelty."
The motivation is military, but the question is shared by autonomous driving and medical AI: whether a deployed AI can notice the unexpected is the heart of AI reliability and safety, and investment in that foundational theory has spilled over into civilian AI development.
This site has also collected other SAIL-ON awards (PAR Government Systems and others), from which DARPA's pattern of running multiple teams in parallel on one scientific problem — competitive research — can be read. SRI International, the winner here, is the nonprofit research institute also known for producing the prototype of Siri.
Why it matters
Whether a deployed AI can notice the unexpected is the core of AI reliability and safety, a foundational question that spills into civilian fields like autonomous driving and medical AI. Together with DARPA's competitive-research pattern, useful for reading the front line of AI research investment.
FAQ
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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)：HR001120C0040