Pentagon Unveils AI Tool, Strengthens Alliances

In July, President Donald J. Trump released his plan for how the U.S. will become the dominant player in the global artificial intelligence race. The War department is now playing a big role in that effort.

Earlier this week, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth unveiled the department’s own AI tool, GenAI.mil.

“The future of American warfare is AI, and the U.S. military will not be behind,” Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said today during the department’s Weekly Sitrep video.”We are revolutionizing the way we win,and we are innovating our operations on every level. This new platform is now at the fingertips of our warfighters and our civilian personnel to expedite efforts and give the services an advantage over the enemy.”

Visitors to the department’s new AI platform will find a specialized version of the Google AI tool Gemini, known as Gemini for Government. This version is approved to handle controlled unclassified information. A green banner at the top of the page reminds users of what kinds of information can and can’t be processed. Other tools from additional American companies will also be available soon.

The new tool, Hegseth said, can help write documents, answer questions, conduct deep research and format content.

“I expect every member of the department to log in, learn it and incorporate it into your workflows immediately,” he said. “AI should be in your battle rhythm every single day; it should be your teammate. By mastering this tool, we will outpace our adversaries.”

The department this week also spent notable time with longtime ally, Australia, at both the State Department building and the Pentagon.

On Dec. 8, Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with their Australian counterparts as part of the 40th Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations.

As part of the gathering, Hegseth and Rubio met with Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong to discuss issues such as enhanced force posture, strengthening of the U.S. and Australian defense industrial bases,and access to rare earth and other critical minerals vital to the defense industry.

later in the week, the secretary hosted a defense minister trilateral meeting at the Pentagon with Marles and United Kingdom Defense Secretary john Healey.

“in line with the shared intent to move ‘full steam ahead’ on [the australia,U.K. and U.S. trilateral security agreement], the principals recognized the work underway to deliver priority infrastructure and workforce uplift in support of an enhanced trilateral submarine industrial base,” Wilson said.

The AUKUS agreement includes two pillars.The first pillar involves the delivery of a conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine capability to Australia, as well as significant investments in the industrial bases of all three partner nations.

as part of that plan, Australia will buy three Virginia-class submarines from the U.S.to be delivered in the 2030s. Together, all three partner nations will also develop a new platform called SSN-AUKUS, which is expected to be ready for use by the 2040s.