The general use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems is a recent development in everyday Newport News Shipbuilding business practice.

The NNS Artificial Intelligence Policy outlines permissible use, ethical guidelines and accountability while ensuring shipbuilders can embrace the technology and reap the benefits it brings.

Carmen Boelte (E49) is currently working on the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) docking and topside project as part of NNS’ Beyond program and uses AI to help with documentation needs. One of her first tasks supporting CVN 75 was creating an arrival readiness checklist.

“There were multiple source documents – some in Microsoft Word, some in PowerPoint, others in Excel – and I needed information from all of them,” Boelte explained. “I extracted the information that I needed and used AI to compile it all into an initial, high-level list.”

When AI created Boelte’s draft, it also included references to her source material that made it easy to verify its output.

“AI can hallucinate data, so it is important to double check anything we use it for,” she said.

Boelte estimates that AI managed to reduce her task from eight hours of work down to half an hour.

She also used AI to help develop a training session based on a business leadership book.

“I prompted it with needing an interactive 75-minute, managerial-level session based on the book’s concepts,” Boelte explained. “I even added that I wanted the concept tied into NNS’ managerial competencies, which it was able to access and include. It actually produced a workbook for attendees to use during the session.”

Once she had the workbook, Boelte selected imagery for the presentation and wrote her script for the session. Not counting it took the time for Boelte to read the book, she estimates that using AI saved her roughly 40 hours of work.

“I’ve been an instructor before and created many lesson plans from scratch,” she said. “One of the hardest things to do is to determine what exactly you want to teach and how to fit it into a set timeline. I was always going back and forth with my decisions and doing multiple practice sessions.”

She explained, “It really cuts down on so much time. It’s a tool, an assistant. It does a lot of the ‘thinking’ and planning of the process, which allows me to execute the final product better. I still have to do the work, but it gives me quicker access to the key information I need.”

Boelte encourages shipbuilders to explore using AI tools to assist in their work.

“We have the information we need in our systems – the knowledge is there. The problem is finding and accessing it,” she said. “These tools will, at a minimum, give the user a genuine starting point. We are all asked to do more work in less time. This is one of the tools that will help us do that.”

Shipbuilders interested in learning more about AI resources at NNS should check out these short modules on Percipio:

1. AI in the Workplace – Explore how AI can assist you at work.
2. Responsible Use of AI – Dive into the principles of responsible and effective AI use.
3. Writing Effective AI Prompts for Business – Learn how to create well-written AI prompts.

If you are interested in sharing how you or your department use AI to increase your productivity and creativity, email communications@hii-nns.com.