The United States' special operations forces community has made commendable progress in embracing and integrating artificial intelligence into the battlespace over the past year, but it still has room to grow to keep pace with adversaries like China.
That was one of the key messages from today's fireside chat at Special Operations Forces Week 2025 in Tampa, Florida. Technology experts explored SOF's use of AI and its ability to adapt and integrate it for defense, as well as leverage it to deliver innovative technology for national security.
U.S. Special Operations Command's most significant AI-related inroads over the past year have been software-related, according to Akash Jain, a leader in the private sector AI industry whose company partners with DOD.
Jain said following a "pivot" to embracing certain AI technologies last year, Socom has been making significant progress with software.
"I think, with the push by senior leaders … [there's been] an incredible, incredible amount of progress on the acquisition and implementation side for software," Jain said.
"[It's] stuff that's moving really fast and can now become something that everybody across [the] SOF enterprise can use at scale," he added.
Jain said he would rate Socom's overall progress on AI development for the past year as a "six or seven" on a scale of one to 10, noting that he sees areas where the command can continue to grow, including the need to further integrate AI into legacy hardware systems.
Thomas Tull, another AI private sector industry leader, agreed that Socom's renewed push in AI development has been productive.
"[Socom leadership] have all leaned forward and said, 'This is what we're doing, full stop, and we are committed to it'; so, I think you're seeing rapid change for the positive," Tull said.
In terms of AI-related areas where SOF could work to improve, Tull said there's an ongoing need to develop "digital fluency," meaning an ability to not just use AI technology but also understand how it works and then be able to apply it effectively and creatively.
To that end, Tull said Socom has received a head start on improving the command's digital fluency, with roughly 400 of the command's leaders recently completing a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-affiliated six-week course on the topic.
"I think enhancing digital fluency [is important] so that, as you push technology down, you have a workforce that not only is comfortable with it, but frankly, demands it," Tull said.
Tull also said that, while he's glad to see how Socom has embraced the need to integrate AI, the level of that embrace must be absolute to keep up with the pacing threat from adversaries like China.
"You're talking about the ability to pull ahead [and] stay ahead; and [if you fall behind in AI development] I'm not sure that you can catch up," he said.
He added that Socom should one day view AI as "the same as breathing or walking" and that it should eventually be part of every decision the command makes.
Both Tull and Jain agreed that SOF continuing to push industry to develop further advancements in AI is a key to future success on the battlefield.
"[Keep] demanding, keep innovating. That's one of the things that I think separates SOF — globally — is that there is this relentless drive to not be satisfied, to invent new things, to be willing to go first," Tull said, adding that he encourages SOF to be just as demanding when it comes to AI's development.
"Break stuff, come back to us [and] tell us what you need," he said.
Jain called AI's future development an "all-of-American industry" endeavor, and no distinction should be made between the defense industrial base and the non-traditional defense base.
"With AI, I think we have a generational opportunity to kind of set in motion what the future is going to look like," he said.
"So please keep pushing with us and partnering with us. It's been incredible how we've seen that progress over the last year."