Skip to content
No PriorsNo Priors

The Future of Warfare: How the US Department of War Thinks About AI

Today’s arms race looks a little different from those of the past. Under the Trump administration, the US Department of War (DoW) is deploying generative AI to millions of employees in order to maintain a strategic edge over our global adversaries. Sarah Guo and Elad Gil sit down with Emil Michael, the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering of the United States, to discuss the radical technological transformation of the US military. Emil outlines the architecture and launch of GenAI.mil, a DoW internal AI platform powered by Gemini and Grok that reached over one million unique users in its first 30 days. He also highlights critical technology priorities for national security, including hypersonics, direct energy, and autonomous drone swarms. Together, they also explore the urgent need to rebuild the American defense industrial base and end dependency on foreign supply chains for critical materials, as well as how Emil is recruiting the next generation of “fixer-builder” workers to serve their country in government. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @USWREMichael | @DoWCTO Chapters: 00:00 – Cold Open 00:00 – Emil Michael Introduction 00:58 – Emil’s Role at the Department of War 05:22 – Innovation Priorities for the DoW 08:27 – Shift Toward Autonomous Defense Technologies 10:41 – Identifying Common Needs Across the DoW 12:02 – Architecting GenAI.mil 13:48 – Applied AI Initiatives at the DoW 15:57 – The Future of Warfare 17:55 – Recruiting for DoW 19:33 – Arsenal of Freedom Tour 22:25 – Opportunities for Entrepreneurs at DoW 25:49 – Speeding Up and Scaling DoW Initiatives 28:37 – Innovation in Defense Tech 30:00 – Change Management in Government 32:09 – Rebuilding the Defense Industrial Base 37:27 – Initiatives and Opportunities at the Office of Strategic Capital 41:41 – Lessons from Emil’s Government Experience 44:30 – Conclusion

Emil MichaelguestSarah GuohostElad Gilhost
Jan 14, 202644mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Pentagon’s AI push: applied deployment, autonomous systems, industrial-base rebuilding strategy

  1. Emil Michael, Under Secretary for Research and Engineering (and leader of the DoW’s chief AI office), describes a restructuring meant to unify technology efforts across DARPA, DIU, and other innovation arms to move faster and reduce duplication.
  2. He argues the urgency is driven by China’s unprecedented military buildup and by U.S. supply-chain fragility, requiring new investment levels, new entrants, and faster acquisition pathways for startups.
  3. A centerpiece is GenAI.mil: a secure, DoW-network GenAI platform deployed quickly to the enterprise, reaching ~1M unique users in 30 days, with multiple models and expansion across classification levels planned.
  4. The conversation emphasizes a shift toward distributed autonomous systems (drones/robots), scalable production (not just prototypes), and financing mechanisms (DIU, manufacturing scale programs, and the Office of Strategic Capital) to “collapse the Valley of Death.”

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

The DoW is trying to act like a focused product organization, not a committee.

Michael says 14 “critical” tech areas created diffusion; he cut them to six and put “sprints” behind them to drive execution, signaling a cultural shift toward prioritization and delivery.

Applied AI is the #1 priority because the private sector is funding the frontier.

Rather than build a DoW foundation model, the plan is to adapt commercial models to defense use cases, focusing on deployment, security constraints, and integration with DoW workflows/data.

GenAI.mil is a template for rapid, secure AI rollout at massive scale.

Because public chatbots are generally prohibited on DoW networks, they designed a different data-flow architecture to prevent sensitive data from leaking into public model training, then shipped to millions quickly with a “tiger team.”

Defense AI deployment is organized into three lanes: enterprise, intelligence, and warfighting.

Michael frames near-term progress as “pace-setting” pathfinder projects that both deliver value (efficiency, intel fusion, planning/wargaming) and prove feasibility to overcome internal resistance.

Autonomy will take an increasing share of budgets because it’s cheaper per firepower and reduces risk to personnel.

He predicts a meaningful budget mix shift toward autonomous systems (air/sea/undersea) and suggests 20–30% of the defense budget could go to these systems within 10 years as AI enables sensing and independent action.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

Fourteen priorities mean no priorities at all.

— Emil Michael

We’re not building a foundation model at the DoW… So how do I adapt or use what’s being developed in the private sector and apply it to the Department of War use cases?

— Emil Michael

It’s crazy to me that SpaceX, and Anduril, and Palantir all had to sue the Department of War for their first contract. So the idea is, you don’t have to sue anymore. Come through the front door.

— Emil Michael

We’ve had over a million people, uniques, use it in the last thirty days.

— Emil Michael

If you come with a tech pitch and a prototype, that’s great. What’s the plan to get me ten thousand of these?

— Emil Michael

DoW tech reorg: acquisition vs R&E splitSix innovation priorities vs fourteenApplied AI vs building foundation modelsGenAI.mil secure architecture and adoptionAutonomous drones and future force mixDirected energy and hypersonics at scaleDefense industrial base, supply chains, and capital tools

High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.

Get more out of YouTube videos.

High quality summaries for YouTube videos. Accurate transcripts to search & find moments. Powered by ChatGPT & Claude AI.

Add to Chrome