Artificial intelligence (AI) chat functions have swiftly changed the way we acquire information today. Now the next iteration has arrived in the form of agentic AI, which is already having profound effects on both tactical and strategic operations.
As language models rapidly scale, often via easily accessible open-source models, they hand both friendly forces and adversaries a powerful new toolkit for rapid cyber operations and automated decision-making. Garrett Berntsen, Chief AI Officer at Accenture Federal Services and former Deputy Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer for Scaled Capabilities, discusses how defense leaders can look beyond the hype and build an agile, software-abundant force for 2035.
Breaking Defense: Defense leaders have used AI for years, but agentic AI is fast becoming a dominant focal point. What is driving this urgency around agentic AI across the department right now?
Garrett Berntsen, Chief AI Officer, Accenture Federal Services
Berntsen: Two massive drivers are at play: open-source proliferation and battlefield realities. Historically, cutting-edge technology was locked behind classified programs. Today, powerful frontier models are often open-sourced within months. That means adversarial actors or a teenager in a basement will soon have tools capable of synthesizing vulnerabilities into potent cyberweapons. Our adversaries aren’t just processing data faster, they are acting faster. Defensively, we are on a ticking clock to harden our systems using these same capabilities.
