Pentagon Taps AI for Military Planning With Thunderforge Project

The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded a contract to Scale AI to develop Thunderforge, an AI project intended to support military planning and decision-making.

Led by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), the initiative aims to enhance operational and strategic analysis through AI-driven simulations and recommendations.

Thunderforge is designed to improve planning efficiency by addressing what DIU’s project leader Bryce Goodman describes as a gap between the speed of contemporary conflicts and traditional military decision-making.

“Today’s military planning processes rely on decades-old technology and methodologies,” Goodman said, according to the DIU blog. “Thunderforge allows decision-makers to operate at the pace required for emerging conflicts,” he added.

The system will initially be deployed within U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) and U.S. European Command (EUCOM), with plans for broader implementation across all 11 combatant commands.

Thunderforge’s AI tools will assist in mission planning, resource allocation, and strategic analysis, using large language models (LLMs) and simulations to refine recommendations. Despite AI integration, the DIU blog claims that the military commanders will retain ultimate decision-making authority.

Scale AI will oversee the project in collaboration with Anduril, Microsoft, and other technology firms. Anduril’s Lattice software and Microsoft’s LLMs will be integrated into the system, while Scale AI will contribute expertise in generative AI and automated decision-support tools.

“Our AI solutions will transform today’s military operating process and modernize American defense,” said Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, as reported by The Register.

The initiative has raised concerns regarding AI reliability and ethical implications in military applications. The Register reports that critics emphasize the need for safeguards to prevent unintended consequences in high-stakes scenarios.

DIU has emphasized that Thunderforge is designed with mechanisms for transparency, allowing users to trace AI decision-making processes and assess confidence levels. “Accuracy and reliability are core design principles, and maintaining human oversight is critical,” a DIU spokesperson said, as reported by The Register.

The use of AI in defense remains a topic of debate. Companies such as Google and Microsoft have previously faced employee opposition to military contracts involving AI, with some questioning the role of AI in warfare and surveillance, as noted by The Register.

However, defense officials argue that AI adoption is necessary to maintain a strategic advantage, particularly as other nations invest in similar technologies.

Dan Tadross, Scale AI’s head of federal delivery and a former Marine, underscored the need for modernization. “The planning and operational process for the U.S. military has not evolved since Napoleon,” he said, as reported by The Washington Post.

“After years of theorizing that AI could help military planning, the technology is now at the point where it can actually be helpful,” he added.