The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published an assessment on October 14 of how the Department of Defense (DOD) is implementing its responsible artificial intelligence principles. The report finds that most of the ten components reviewed had taken at least initial steps to establish oversight and apply those principles to selected use cases. It also identifies two concrete obstacles: a coordination body that stopped meeting for months and a responsible office operating with only three of its ten authorized positions filled.

The report does not say that the systems reviewed failed or that DOD deployed AI without controls. Its focus is the department's institutional capacity to interpret and apply its own rules consistently. GAO says DOD established AI ethical principles and six responsible-AI tenets intended to guide the safety and trustworthiness of these systems. The audit examined guidance, implementation, and oversight, and surveyed ten components about selected use cases.[1]

One central finding concerns the Responsible AI Working Council, the working-level group created by the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) to coordinate DOD components. CDAO officials told GAO that the council did not meet from late 2024 until August 2025. During that period, four components reported implementation challenges that they said would have benefited from collaboration. GAO warned that another lapse could leave the department without enough collaborative capacity to resolve inconsistent interpretations of its guidance quickly and effectively.

The second warning concerns operational capacity. As of February 2026, only three of the ten authorized positions in CDAO's Responsible AI Division were filled, according to officials interviewed by GAO. The watchdog says the staffing shortage hindered additional work and could slow DOD's goal of accelerating AI adoption with safeguards. Among the ten surveyed components, two reported using CDAO responsible-AI tools for the selected use case, seven did not use them, and one did not know whether it had.

GAO issued an open recommendation that the secretary of Defense ensure CDAO develops a formal charter for the council. The charter should define roles and responsibilities, include both the Responsible AI Division and DOD components, and specify how often the council meets. GAO also asked Congress to consider action directing DOD to address earlier recommendations involving collaboration and workforce needs.

That history matters because the staffing problem did not first appear in this review. In December 2023, GAO recommended that CDAO assign responsibility for completing the steps needed to define and identify the department's AI workforce. The official recommendation page still lists the matter as open and says actions satisfying its intent have not been taken or planned.[2]

The development is therefore not a new autonomous-weapons policy or another procurement announcement. It is an official assessment of the governance infrastructure intended to accompany AI use across mission, intelligence, and enterprise activities. The report records initial progress, but also a gap between declaring principles and sustaining the staff, meetings, and accountability needed to implement them.

The findings should remain bounded. GAO reviewed ten components and selected cases, not every AI system across DOD. It also did not publicly classify each technical outcome as safe or unsafe. What it confirmed is institutional and measurable: the main coordination forum had a prolonged pause, the specialized division had seven vacancies among ten authorized positions, and an earlier workforce recommendation remains open. For an organization seeking to accelerate AI adoption, those process controls shape whether rapid deployment can remain traceable, consistent, and responsible.

Sources

[1] Read More — GAO-27-107837 — Artificial Intelligence: Actions and Opportunities to Implement Responsible Use in DOD
[2] Read More — GAO-24-105645 — Artificial Intelligence: Actions Needed to Improve DOD's Workforce Management