Over the past six months, the number of U.S. Department of Defense employees using commercial AI tools has surged by 1775%, from 80,000 to 1.5 million, according to Pentagon Chief Technology Officer Emil Michael at a Hudson Institute event, as reported by Fortune.
Of the department’s total workforce of 3.5 million, about 43% are utilizing artificial intelligence.
One example of AI integration is the preparation of mandatory reports for Congress. Michael claims that AI can draft such a document in five hours, compared to the 200 hours it would take a team of employees.
In April, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology Jacob Glassman revealed that he instructed an understaffed team to use GenAI.mil for report preparation. According to him, the team delivered a completed document within a week, calling it the best in the past five years.
Later, the Pentagon announced partnerships with SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, Nvidia, Reflection, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and Oracle for operational use of AI tools.
The use of artificial intelligence in U.S. government structures extends beyond the Department of Defense, journalists note. Authorities have been implementing AI initiatives in agencies since the 1960s, initially experimenting with the technology to solve logistical problems.
The AI in Government Act of 2020, enacted during Donald Trump’s first presidency, spurred practical application.
However, in March 2026, the U.S. Government Accountability Office warned that expanding the use of neural networks in the public sector could increase the risk of generating false information and accessing data beyond its intended purpose.
In May, media reported that the Pentagon had formed a group to implement hacker AI models.
