The Pentagon’s newly launched GenAI.mil, which has already surpassed one million unique users since going live just two months ago, will integrate OpenAI’s widely used ChatGPT. The Department of War confirmed this week that it has established a partnership with the artificial intelligence developer, making OpenAI’s advanced large language models available to all 3 million personnel across the department.
“ChatGPT will be made available to enhance mission execution and readiness, delivering reliable capabilities to the joint force,” the DoD announced.
The Pentagon’s Trusted AI Platform
GenAI.mil has been adopted across the United States Armed Forces as the preferred generative AI platform, with only the Coast Guard, which in peacetime is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), not yet on board. Since it went live in December, the Pentagon’s AI platform has integrated third-party tools, beginning with Google’s Gemini, and, more recently, it was announced that Elon Musk’s Grok LLMs from xAI will be included later this year.
“GenAI.mil’s rapid rise reflects a decisive cultural and technological shift, validating the Department’s commitment to being an AI-first enterprise,” the Pentagon added. “To ensure this advantage extends to the entire joint force, comprehensive training for all Department personnel will continue, empowering them to effectively learn the platform and integrate AI capabilities into their daily workflows.”
What Does ChatGPT Bring?
The Department hasn’t confirmed when ChatGPT will be fully integrated into the system, but OpenAI said it will greatly enhance what GenAI.mil provides to users within the defense community.
“This partnership will make OpenAI’s advanced large language models readily available to all 3 million Department personnel. ChatGPT will be made available to enhance mission execution and readiness, delivering reliable capabilities to the joint force,” the company said in a press release. “Integrating ChatGPT into GenAI.mil marks another critical step in making frontier AI capabilities the standard for daily operations.”
Generative AI can be used to quickly generate code, text, images, and audio based on user prompts. A concern is that the results aren’t entirely accurate, and developers are working to address this. The customized version of ChatGPT will be authorized to run on the government cloud infrastructure, with safety controls and protections in place to prevent data leaks.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT will be approved for “unclassified work” to help mitigate such risks.
“We believe the people responsible for defending the country should have access to the best tools available, and it is important for the United States and other democratic countries to understand how, with the proper safeguards, AI can help protect people, deter adversaries, and prevent future conflict,” OpenAI added.
The Pentagon’s decision to partner with OpenAI isn’t surprising. The DoD needs to be at the forefront of technology and is thus looking to the leading developers in the space.
“It means that the DoD is rightfully diversifying its AI models,” explained technology industry analyst Roger Entner of Recon Analytics.
“Not every model is equally good for each task. Also, AI providers get better and comparatively worse—but still better—over time,” Entner told ClearanceJobs. “Think of AI like cutlery: You have a knife, fork, spoon; you are not going to be very successful eating soup with your knife. Same with AI.”
