MONTEREY, Calif. – As the U.S. Department of the Navy continues to operationalize artificial intelligence (AI) across the Navy and Marine Corps, high-profile systems such as unmanned platforms and mass intelligence tools are dominating most of the headlines. But the power of AI extends far beyond these examples, supporting data analysis, process automation, decision support tools at all levels, and more to solve complex problems.
The U.S. Marine Corps is moving forward with a deployment strategy that leverages AI across the force. A key component of this effort is the U.S. Marine Corps Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) AI Fellowship. This is a new program that enables the Marine Corps to apply AI capabilities directly to operational challenges, transforming emerging technologies into practical data-driven solutions for the fleet.
“When the fellowship opportunity arose, I realized that this was the place where AI could fit right in, not to do the work for us, but to streamline existing processes and enable operators to tackle more complex problems,” said U.S. Marine Corps Col. Steven Steckler, a member of the first group of AI fellows and an NPS graduate in computer science.
Developed in alignment with existing AI strategies and the 39th Commander in Chief Planning Guidance, the USMC-NPS AI Fellowship Program will accelerate applied AI research while developing the Corps’ AI talent pool.
Participants in the fellowship program, which began in August 2025, spent five months split between applied research and field experiments on use cases identified by each fellow. AI fellows received targeted AI instruction and mentorship from NPS faculty and industry experts to support their hands-on research.
Fast forward to early 2026, and the first group of USMC-NPS AI fellows returned to campus to present their research findings to Marine Corps leadership and a broad membership of NPS professors, faculty, students, and advisors.
Dr. Christopher Paul, NPS’s U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence Chair, is the program leader for the first pilot of this AI fellowship, which is modeled after MIT’s U.S. Air Force Phantom program. Paul said the program is structured to integrate operational insight and technical expertise, leveraging Marines who are familiar with modern fleet challenges and understand the potential of AI.
Paul says the use cases demonstrated in this first cohort demonstrate the far-reaching potential of AI and how it can be applied across the force by empowering people and their drive to innovate.
“One of our guys, Corporal Joe Sadler, is at Camp Pendleton, in the battalion’s maintenance facility. He’s trying to build a large language model-based tool with an agent shell to help with the paperwork for maintenance activities,” Paul explained. Sadler’s idea has the potential to save a lot of time and effort, he says, since there is a significant amount of time and effort spent outside of the actual maintenance.
Steckler’s project is another example of how AI is being leveraged to help the Marines do their jobs better and faster, Paul said. “He’s in the Marine Corps Operational Test and Evaluation Activity (MCOTEA) where he has to acquire all kinds of new and prototype equipment and perform various red teaming and penetration tests of the circuitry and onboard computer equipment within that equipment,” Paul explains.
Steckler’s project explored the use of edge-deployed large-scale language models to automate and streamline operational cybersecurity testing for the Marine Corps. The system developed for MCOTEA is designed to operate in sensitive, air-gapped environments while integrating existing commercial security tools into a single natural language interface, reducing both analyst workload and training demands. With an overall accuracy of 93.3%, this project shows great potential to reduce personnel requirements and testing schedules, with a clear path forward for further development and operational implementation.
Paul says this testing spends a lot of time applying known vulnerabilities and exploits. “The vision is to build AI tools that can automate a series of processes,” he said, “and spend more time thinking of creative ways to attack or even penetrate that equipment, so we can patch, close, or circumvent vulnerabilities before the equipment is deployed.”
Although the problems the fellows attempted to tackle were complex, the goal of the fellowship is both the end product and the development of the Marine Corps’ AI workforce. And in just five short months, Steckler says he learned some important lessons that he wanted to share with his incoming fellow USMC-NPS AI fellows, who also participated in the on-campus program review.
“Properly scope the problem and aggressively pursue rate-limiting factors,” he said. “Whatever you don’t have ahead of time or that takes time to get, go after it right away. If you have connections with NPS professors, they can go over the mountains to get you what you need.”
While the fellows conduct the initial research sprint, programs like the Marine Corps Software Factory (MCSWF) provide a parallel pathway to operationalize this research beyond the academic environment. With fellows focused on research-driven prototyping rooted in operational challenges, MCSWF works to transform these concepts into production-ready digital tools and strengthen the broader ecosystem that allows Marines to move AI solutions from the classroom to the command center.
Together, these efforts form a continuum that connects education, experimentation, and adoption to ensure innovation doesn’t stall at the prototype stage. Leading these efforts will be U.S. Marine Corps Col. Pedro Ortiz, Ph.D., MCSWF’s Liaison Officer for AI and Emerging Technologies, who will be on hand to hear the fellows’ presentations. Ortiz is a graduate of the university. [USMC Ph.D. technical program at NPS](https://www.marines.mil/News/Messages/Messages-Display/Article/4047808/fy26-marine-corps-doctor-of-philosophy-programs-phdp-selection-board-announceme/) is designed to identify technological breakthroughs for combat applications and build a cadre of highly skilled Marine Corps officers who support senior leaders in strategic and long-term vision and capability development.
“The project introduced today is a small but important sample of how the Marine Corps can implement AI solutions at their level,” Ortiz said. “In the future, I can envision this program creating prototypes that the Marine Corps Software Factory can convert into production-grade software for use throughout the Marine Corps.”
Central to the plan is the principle that artificial intelligence must augment, not replace, Marines. As AI adoption expands, the balance between speed and risk emerges as a recurring theme. While Marine Corps leaders acknowledge the rapid pace of AI development and the resulting need for agility, they emphasize that governance structures must remain robust.
“I’m very proud of the breadth of this program. We have a very dynamic range of participants, from government employees to officers and even corporals,” Paul said. “We have some great minds working at all levels of leadership in this program.”
As the second group of USMC-AI Fellows begins, the Marine Corps is looking ahead to establishing a Digital Transformation Center that will serve as a hub for AI knowledge products, prototyping, and collaboration between academia and industry. Partnerships with agencies such as NPS and federally funded research and development centers are expected to play a central role in this effort.
The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), located in Monterey, California, provides defense-focused graduate education, including classified and interdisciplinary studies, to enhance the Navy’s operational effectiveness, technological leadership, and warfighting superiority. Founded in 1909, NPS offers master’s and doctoral degree programs to military and civilian personnel from the Department of the Army with international partners, delivering innovative solutions and innovative leaders through advanced education and research.
