WASHINGTON – It’s not every day that an Air Force captain can give a four-star general an earful.

But Mike Kanaan isn’t an everyday captain, and these aren't ordinary times.

Gen. Stephen Wilson, the vice chief of staff, invites input from his very junior colleague because Kanaan’s expertise is artificial intelligence.

Wilson says he believes AI’s ability to sort mountains of data to find targets like terrorists is a way to change the nature of war. The Air Force needs to lean on Kanaan and other young, tech-savvy airmen, Wilson says, to help transform the way it uses data.

“It’s pretty unusual,” Wilson says of his relationship with Kanaan. “We’re at an inflection point, and he’s one of the recognized experts. He’s a wickedly smart guy.”

The Pentagon defines artificial intelligence in its simplest form as a machine’s ability to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence. And AI can execute those tasks far faster and more efficiently.

Last September, the Pentagon announced a $2 billion AI initiative that will automate processes such as vetting troops and employees for clearances to view secret information. The Pentagon's chief information officer, Dana Deasy, launched the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center in February, said Heather Babb, a Defense Department spokeswoman.

The center coordinates with the services on prototypes for artificial intelligence on projects designed to reduce maintenance costs and decision-making in disaster response. The center also will help recruit and retain talent in the field, Babb said.

Kanaan proved his AI expertise in combat by leading an initiative to integrate more than five million Air Force and intelligence data sets that resulted in a 68 percent increase in Islamic State targets to be struck. The actual number of targets is classified.

“I like to keep it simple, and just look at it in the light of ‘it’s just arithmetic or math.' An algorithm, for example, that changes itself over time with more data,” Kanaan said.

Kanaan, 29, was raised in Elk Grove, Illinois. A graduate of the Air Force Academy, he was selected for the specialty of military intelligence. He credits Tom Clancy’s Cold War thriller and fictional character Jack Ryan, the CIA analyst, for spurring his choice of careers.

“I thought of the seminal scene in "Hunt for Red October," and of having a Jack Ryan moment by rendering the perfect intelligence analysis at a critical point in time – even though, in today’s world, I’d hopefully first leverage some machine learning applications before doing so.”

His early work as a young lieutenant involved the development of a sensor aboard a Predator drone that allowed analysts to detect explosives. That helped take 300,000 pounds of bomb-making material off battlefields in Afghanistan and aided in the capture of 34 “high-value target” militants.

Recently, he launched the Air Force Computer Language Initiative to reward airmen with data skills the same way the service compensates troops with proficiency in languages like Arabic and Farsi. The goal is to attract and retain airmen need for its increasing reliance on technology. Now, he’s been named co-chair of Artificial Intelligence for the Air Force.

The military has relied on young officers to rev up its metabolism at times of great technological change, said Peter Singer, a strategist and senior fellow at the think tank New America. The Manhattan Project, charged with developing the first atomic bomb in World War II, relied on young scientists led by a relatively young general, Lloyd Groves.

Artificial intelligence may provide insights from data that could, for example, quickly identify airstrike targets and limit the risk to innocent bystanders on the ground.

“What’s so spooky is that it might draw conclusions humans don’t understand,” Singer said.

The military bureaucracy, which prizes predictability and honors rank of officers, could be a roadblock, Singer said. It’s not unusual for 29-year-olds like Kanaan to play lead roles at private tech firms. It is at the Pentagon.

“The greatest risk to change and innovation comes from the middle,” Singer said. “Colonels and middle-aged project managers can be resistant to change.”

Wilson says he is determined to “remove the clay” so Kanaan and his ideas can take root.

“We’re at an unusual point in time and in history,” Wilson said. “This is a period of massive disruption happening across the globe. We’re seeing it happening politically, economically, socially, technologically. The thing that’s driving a lot of this is technology. We have one of our best and brightest Mike Kanaan to help us move along there.”

