The number of Department of Defense workers using the military’s generative artificial intelligence platform has surged to 1.5 million, according to the Pentagon’s chief technology officer.
The system, GenAI.mil, was seeing fewer than 100,000 users just six months ago. The growth in usage suggests more personnel are engaging with the platform to help with monotonous parts of their jobs as Pentagon leadership encourages the widespread use of GenAI.mil and other AI platforms across its workforce.
Emil Michael, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and the Pentagon’s chief technology officer, revealed at a Hudson Institute think tank event last week, that when GenAI.mil was introduced in December 2025, it had only 80,000 out of 3.5 million department workers using it.
“It wasn’t really clear where to go for it, what you could use it for, the rules were unclear, so we just blew through that,” he said.
The Defense Department then launched Google’s Gemini on its unclassified networks, and since then, the number of daily users has skyrocketed, Michael said.
When GenAI.mil was first launched, DoD said that the program would improve efficiency for workers, providing them with analysis and creative tools that would make their jobs easier. The Pentagon more broadly is adopting AI across the department for regular functions and warfighting, including requesting billions of dollars for next-generation AI and computers in the fiscal 2027 budget.
Michael attributed the substantial increase in GenAI.mil users over the past six months to the directives from the Pentagon on what AI can and should be used for, as well as DoD employees being exposed to AI outside of work.
“So we just put it in front of them, and then we do case studies on what are the things people are using it for,” he said. “Those things are now proliferated through the department.”
The types of tasks that DoD workers are using AI for are similar to those in other sectors. Michael referred to paperwork, explaining that the use of AI gives workers flexibility to focus on other tasks.
“More and more people are like, ‘Oh my God, I could write a job description.’ I mean, very simple things to more exquisite things,” he said. “‘I have to report to Congress every year on this thing. Let me load all the papers onto it and have it draft me a congressional report that would otherwise take 200 hours of staffing time and do it in five hours.'”
“It’s just a matter of trying to catch up to, in this case, what’s basic in the commercial world,” he said.
Other officials have pointed to similar potential benefits of AI, believing the technology can reduce the cognitive load on workers, help complete tasks that would typically require more time and manpower, and act as a resource.
DoD is also exploring how AI can be used in and around combat. Officials have assured that the technology has guardrails and humans will remain in the loop while acknowledging that the speed of future warfare may require AI to help process data and make faster decisions.
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