The explosive growth of AI in the Pentagon: the number of users increased by 1775% in six months
The U.S. Department of Defense is demonstrating rapid digital transformation. Over the past six months, the number of Pentagon employees actively using commercial AI-based tools has increased by 1775% — from 80,000 to 1.5 million people. This was stated by the agency's chief technologist, Emil Michael, at a Hudson Institute event.
Given that the total number of Department of Defense personnel is about 3.5 million, this means that nearly 43% of all employees are already using AI in their daily work. This dynamic indicates a fundamental shift in management and operational approaches within one of the world's largest government apparatuses.
Automating Bureaucracy: From 200 Hours to Five
One of the most striking examples of AI implementation is the preparation of mandatory reports for Congress. According to Michael, a neural network can compile a draft of such a document in just five hours. Previously, this task required 200 hours of work from an entire team of employees.
In April, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology Foundations, Jacob Glassman, shared another case. He tasked an understaffed team with using the internal platform GenAI.mil to compile a report. The result exceeded expectations: a week later, the team presented a finished document, which they themselves called the best in the last five years.
Strategic Alliances and Risks
To scale these successes, the Pentagon has formed partnerships with leading technology giants — SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, Nvidia, Reflection, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and Oracle. These agreements are aimed at the operational use of AI tools for defense purposes.
Notably, interest in artificial intelligence within U.S. government structures is not new. The first experiments with the technology to solve logistical problems date back to the 1960s. However, a real breakthrough occurred after the passage of the AI in Government Act in 2020, signed during Donald Trump's first presidential term.
Nevertheless, such aggressive implementation also carries serious risks. 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 unauthorized data access. Additionally, media previously reported that the Pentagon had created a special group to implement hacking AI models.
My expert assessment: A 1775% increase is not just a statistic, but an indicator that AI is becoming a critically important element of national security. However, such a rapid pace of implementation without adequate control mechanisms could lead to vulnerabilities that might be exploited by U.S. adversaries. The question is not whether to use AI, but how to ensure security at every stage of this transformation.