The Pentagon claims a 1,775% boost in AI use is paying off the DOGE promise a year later—but adoption is still under 50%

Pete Hegseth and Emil Michael walk next to each other. (Credit: Win McNamee—Getty Images)

The U.S. Department of Defense says its AI use is surging and boosting its efficiency, but less than half of agency employees are deploying the technology. And the jury is out on whether the work product is actually any good.

Pentagon Chief Technology Officer Emil Michael said in a recent event with Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, that the use of AI across the agency has proliferated, revealing that 80,000 personnel were using commercial AI tools as of December 2025, and that number has grown to 1.5 million personnel as of this month. The Department of Defense has about 3.5 million employees, meaning less than half, roughly 43%, of agency employees are using AI.