Snorkel AI Awarded Air Force Contract to Automate Data Labeling

AFWERX selects Snorkel AI for a $1.24M SBIR Phase II contract for Automated Data Labeling of ISR Sensor Data

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Snorkel AI today announced it has been selected by AFWERX for an SBIR Phase II contract in the amount of $1.24 million focused on automated data labeling of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) sensor data to address the most pressing challenges in the Department of the Air Force (DAF). The Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) process by accelerating the small business experience through faster proposal to award timelines, changing the pool of potential applicants by expanding opportunities to small business and eliminating bureaucratic overhead by continually implementing process improvement changes in contract execution.

The DAF began offering the Open Topic SBIR/STTR program in 2018 which expanded the range of innovations the DAF funded and now on September 20, 2023, Snorkel AI will start its journey to create and provide innovative capabilities that will strengthen the national defense of the United States of America.

“Snorkel AI’s data-centric AI approach with programmatic labeling is well suited to build mission AI applications to identify events of interest in real-time,” said Alex Ratner, CEO and co-founder, Snorkel AI, “Our Phase II award supports the United States Air Force’s quest to rapidly capitalize on emerging AI technology.”

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Air Force, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.

About Snorkel AI, Inc.

Founded by a team spun out of the Stanford AI Lab, Snorkel AI makes AI application development fast and practical by unlocking the power of machine learning without the bottleneck of manually-labeled training data. Snorkel Flow is the first data-centric AI platform powered by programmatic labeling. Backed by Addition, Greylock, GV, In-Q-Tel, Lightspeed Venture Partners and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, the company is based in Palo Alto. For more information on Snorkel AI, please visit: https://www.snorkel.ai/ or follow @SnorkelAI.

About AFRL

The Air Force Research Laboratory is the primary scientific research and development center for the Department of the Air Force. AFRL plays an integral role in leading the discovery, development, and integration of affordable warfighting technologies for our air, space and cyberspace force. With a workforce of more than 12,500 across nine technology areas and 40 other operations across the globe, AFRL provides a diverse portfolio of science and technology ranging from fundamental to advanced research and technology development. For more information, visit www.afresearchlab.com.

About AFWERX

As the innovation arm of the DAF and a directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFWERX brings cutting-edge American ingenuity from small businesses and start-ups to address the most pressing challenges of the DAF. AFWERX employs approximately 325 military, civilian and contractor personnel at six hubs and sites executing an annual $1.4 billion budget. Since 2019, AFWERX has executed 4,697 contracts worth more than $2.6 billion to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base and drive faster technology transition to operational capability. For more information, visit: www.afwerx.com.