The Air Force is embarking on an aggressive push to use artificial intelligence across its training pipelines to shorten technical training timelines, accelerate pilot training, and teach basic AI skills to airmen across the force.
These ambitions are outlined in a new guidance document released Wednesday by Air Education and Training Command, which oversees Air Force training, from recruit training and foundational military job training to advanced schools.
The coming changes could reshape not only how airmen are trained, but also how instructors teach and how the service manages its people.
The push follows Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s January directive to make the military an “AI-first” force and aggressively eliminate bureaucratic barriers to adopting the technology.
“Every leader from wing commanders to line instructors are expected to overcome cultural resistance, enforce enterprise consolidation, and drive this shift across their organizations,” Air Force Lt. Gen. Clark Quinn, who oversees AETC, wrote in a foreword for the new strategic planning.
Subordinate commands have three months to figure out how they’ll implement Quinn’s directive.
The resistance mentioned in the new guidance document isn’t unique to the military. Use of artificial intelligence, chatbots, and smart devices is skyrocketing, but many Americans remain concerned about the impact AI will have in the US.
According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, around 50% of American adults reported using AI chatbots, but many also feel the tech brings more negative impacts than positive.
Airmen at all ranks — from fresh arrivals at boot camp to senior officers pursuing professional military education — are set to see “basic data and AI literacy standards” integrated into the training curricula, according to an Air Force press release on the new guidance.
Data literacy and AI fluency should be considered “core competencies,” akin to marksmanship. Whatever relevant AI training personnel receive will be tracked with new digital skills certifications, and airmen with advanced skills will be specially tracked for talent management, the service said.
The Air Force’s AI push mirrors a broader shift in the civilian workforce, where employers are increasingly making AI proficiency an essential job skill, even factoring its use into certain career advancement considerations.
According to the guidance, the command hopes to reduce average training time for technical specialties by 20% by “using AI-augmented and adaptive instruction,” though it does not identify which specific career fields could be affected or provide details on what those instructional changes might include.
Making the plan all work will require AETC to better organize the data that its AI tools depend on. Soon, “Data Stewards” will serve as a new type of data manager to make sure such “critical mission data is cataloged.”
The command hopes to speed up how quickly new pilots can be trained by using AI to optimize flight schedules and resource allocation.
Other military schools are also seeking ways to implement AI into training. During a recent visit to the Army’s Joint Special Operations Medical Training Center, medics and physicians told Business Insider the unit had begun using AI to track class data and better identify students who might be struggling, or assess how their tight schedule could be optimized.
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