Newsmax: Pentagon officials are pressing ahead with an aggressive effort to integrate artificial intelligence throughout the U.S. military, arguing that the national-security danger of falling behind China and other adversaries outweighs the risks of moving rapidly with the technology, according to Politico.
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said the U.S. must maintain its lead in artificial intelligence because of its growing importance to military and economic security.
“Winning and staying ahead in the AI race is probably one of the most important things for the United States to do, both from a military and economic security perspective,” Meink told Politico. “That is a race that the U.S. can’t lose.”
The comments come as the Pentagon moves to make artificial intelligence a central part of military operations while lawmakers and technology leaders debate how much regulation and oversight should accompany the rapidly advancing systems.
The Department of War’s 2026 artificial intelligence strategy calls for accelerating AI integration throughout the military and creating an “AI-First” warfighting force.
“The time is now to accelerate AI integration,” the strategy says, calling for the department to put its resources behind “America’s Military AI Dominance.”
The document says becoming an AI-first force will require redesigning military workflow, processes, and operational concepts around AI capabilities.
Pentagon officials have argued that moving quickly is itself a national-security imperative because U.S. adversaries are pursuing the technology.
Cameron Stanley, the Pentagon’s chief digital and AI officer, told a Washington conference that refusing to adopt AI could leave America more vulnerable because adversaries are moving in the same direction, according to Politico.
“Everybody who is assuming that not using AI is the safest option is really picking the most dangerous course of action we can take because our adversaries are moving in this direction,” Stanley said, according to Politico.
“We’ve been very clear: We’re going to be an AI-first force,” Stanley said, adding that the approach involves taking on some risk but not what he called “ridiculous risks.”
The Pentagon’s position is consistent with its broader AI strategy, which calls for rapid adoption while maintaining safeguards around the technology. The department has previously said AI can improve commanders’ decision-making and military responsiveness while emphasizing that human responsibility remains central to the use of force.
The push is unfolding alongside increasingly dire warnings about what could happen if advanced AI systems develop beyond effective human control.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Politico that rapidly deployed AI could create new vulnerabilities inside sensitive military systems.
“The potential for out-of-control rogue agents invading websites or degrading systems applies to the Pentagon as much as any other organization,” Blumenthal said.
Congress is considering new requirements governing military AI as part of annual defense legislation, including measures intended to keep human judgment involved in decisions involving autonomous systems and establish security standards for AI agents incorporated into military systems, Politico reported.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee’s cybersecurity panel, told Politico that the proposed provisions represent a first step toward addressing the issue.
The congressional debate has intensified as some lawmakers have called for faster action on broader AI safeguards.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., this week called for Congress to “immediately” address AI regulation amid warnings that increasingly capable systems could pose extreme risks if allowed to advance without sufficient safeguards, Politico reported.
President Donald Trump and administration officials have pushed back on the most dire predictions about AI while arguing that humans can remain in control of advanced systems.
The debate also extends into the technology industry, where some executives and policy officials have simultaneously warned about AI’s potential dangers while arguing that the U.S. cannot afford to surrender its technological lead.
“The United States needs to stay in the lead on AI, and you can’t do safety from second place,” Anthropic policy chief Sarah Heck said at Politico’s Decoded summit in Washington, according to Yahoo News.
Heck also said Anthropic considers the risks surrounding advanced AI to be potentially existential while arguing that America must balance those risks as capabilities continue to increase.
That position highlights the tension at the center of the debate: Some technology officials and military leaders argue that maintaining U.S. technological leadership is necessary to manage AI-related risks, while other lawmakers are calling for additional safeguards before the technology advances further.
Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, who has sponsored legislation addressing artificial superintelligence, told Politico that the goal should not simply be to win an AI arms race.
“A world where there are not autonomous killer robots anywhere” should be the objective, Casar said.
“The stakes are high here,” Casar said. “We should be doing what is right.”
For the Pentagon, however, the stated policy remains to accelerate AI development and adoption while attempting to build safeguards into the systems.
The department’s 2026 AI strategy describes the transformation as a military-wide effort, saying AI integration should extend across the department rather than remain limited to individual experimental programs.