The Pentagon aims to provide AI tools to its entire workforce by next year, according to Emil Michael, the department’s chief technical officer. This announcement comes just one month after Michael was given control of the Pentagon’s main AI office.
During a Politico event on September 16, 2025, Michael stated, “We want to have an AI capability on every desktop — 3 million desktops — in six or nine months.” He emphasized that the focus would be on applications for corporate use cases, geared towards improving efficiency and aiding in intelligence and warfighting.
Four weeks prior, the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) underwent a significant shift. It was demoted from reporting to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg to reporting to Michael, who is now a subordinate. Michael indicated that the CDAO would transition into a research body akin to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Missile Defense Agency, aiming to enhance research and engineering related to AI in the military rather than diminish its deployment efforts.
To support this transition, Michael noted, “To add AI to that portfolio means it gets a lot of muscle to it.” He expressed a commitment to rethinking the AI-deployment strategy at the Department of Defense (DOD), dedicating at least a third, if not half, of his time to this effort.
Michael assured that applications emerging from the CDAO and related agencies will be designed specifically for corporate workloads. The CDAO was established in 2022 to advance the Pentagon’s AI initiatives and explore defense applications for emerging technologies. However, the restructuring of the office earlier this year received attention due to job cuts, with reports indicating a potential 60% reduction in the CDAO workforce.
