A new directive from Congress is forcing the Pentagon to stand up a high command for advanced AI, setting the stage for the first formal effort inside the Department of Defense to prepare for systems that could approach or achieve artificial general intelligence.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 orders the Pentagon to establish an Artificial Intelligence Futures Steering Committee led by the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
Membership spans every major service branch and the heads of key civilian offices, creating one of the most senior AI bodies ever assembled inside the department.
The bill instructs the committee to study the trajectory of frontier models, agentic algorithms, neuromorphic computing, next-generation microelectronics and any technology that could move the United States or its adversaries closer to AGI. It also tasks the group with evaluating how future AI networks might alter battlefield doctrine, command oversight and the ability of human operators to maintain control.
Congress asks the committee to go further by crafting a governance and guardrail strategy for advanced AI adoption. Lawmakers want clear ethical boundaries, detailed assessments of operational risk and explicit plans for human override mechanisms. The committee must also estimate future resource needs, including funding, personnel and infrastructure for large-scale AI integration.
“…formulating a proactive policy for the evaluation, adoption, governance, and risk mitigation of advanced artificial intelligence systems by the Department of Defense that are more advanced than any existing advanced artificial intelligence systems, including advanced artificial intelligence systems that approach or achieve artificial general intelligence.”
The new body will meet quarterly and deliver a public report by January 2027. The mandate expires at the end of 2027, but Congress notes that adversaries are already pursuing advanced systems of their own, raising the stakes for early preparation.
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