The Pentagon Is Going 'AI-First.' The Office That Teaches Its AI Rules Has Three of Ten Posts Filled
The Pentagon is building weapons and other projects with artificial intelligence capabilities that officials say don't always closely adhere to the agency's own guidelines for AI, according to a congressional watchdog report published in October.
A January memo set the direction: the department would become an AI-first warfighting force, in its own phrasing, across all components, front to back.
The group that helps manage education on those guidelines is running at a fraction of its intended size: it was authorized to hire 10 people in 2023, and as of February only three of those positions were filled. The report adds that the Pentagon is unlikely to fill the vacancies or increase staffing.
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The interesting number here isn't the three staffers; it's what the surveyed officials said would actually help them. They asked for more access to expertise about the guidelines and to people who know them — a translation-and-training problem more than a policy vacuum.
Or it's neither. Hegseth has indicated, in a January speech at SpaceX, that he doesn't think AI development at the Pentagon should be slowed by those sorts of steps. A three-person office may be the trade being made deliberately rather than an oversight nobody noticed.