The Department of Defense on Tuesday launched a major push on its website to give service members, civilians and contractors access to generative artificial intelligence capabilities.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a video posted to social media on Tuesday that Google Cloud's Gemini for Government is the first AI capability to be launched at GenAI.mil.
“The future of American warfare is here, and it's AI,” Hegseth said in the video.
“This platform [GenAI.mil] “The world's most powerful frontier AI models, including Google Gemini, will be put directly into the hands of every American warfighter,” he said.
Users will need a common access card from the department to log on to GenAI.mil. It cannot be accessed by unauthorized personnel.
Hegseth said the department will not “stand idly by” as adversaries take advantage of rapid technological advances.
“With the click of a button, GenAI’s AI models can be used to perform detailed investigations, format documents, and even analyze videos and images at unprecedented speed,” Hegseth said in the video.
In a written statement, also released by the Pentagon on Tuesday, Hegseth said the department is “putting all of our chips into artificial intelligence as a combat force.”
The Pentagon also said the AI efforts follow President Donald Trump's July order to “achieve unprecedented levels of AI technological superiority.”
Gemini for Government will use “intelligent agentic workflows,” or AI processes that use autonomous programming to make decisions and take actions with minimal human involvement, and will allow defense personnel to further experiment with these capabilities, the ministry said.
“There is no prize for second place in the global race for AI supremacy,” Emil Michael, the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said in a statement. “We are moving rapidly to bring powerful AI capabilities like Gemini for Government directly to the workforce. AI is America's next manifest destiny, and we are ensuring we dominate this new frontier.”
Elon Musk's xAI, Anthropic, and OpenAI are some of the other AI programs the department considered to help with national security missions. Intelligence analysis, logistics, and data collection are some of the operations the department expects to improve with the use of AI.
The Department of Defense announced it will provide free training to all department personnel on how to use the GenAI.mil website. These training sessions aim to increase employees' confidence in using AI tools and teach them how to make the most of their capabilities.
The ministry emphasized the need for security when using the program, saying all tools on the GenAI website are considered controlled unclassified information, or CUI, to ensure sufficient security for operational use.
Gemini for Government is web-based for Google Search, ensuring that the information Google Search generates is accurate and significantly reducing the risk of “AI hallucinations.”
The Department of Defense said the Research and Engineering Directorate's AI Rapid Capabilities Cell led to the development of these capabilities.
Stephen Losey is Defense News' air warfare reporter. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues for Air Force Times and the Department of Defense, special operations and air combat for Military.com. He traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
