AI-First
AI-First is mandatory now.
DoD doctrine (January 2026) shifts competition to deployment speed, model velocity, and replaceable interfaces. If you can’t keep up, you get displaced.
DoD January 2026 shift
- AI-first is doctrine — AI is treated like core military infrastructure; deployment speed outweighs process perfection.
- Pace-Setting Projects (PSPs) — outcome-driven efforts with monthly demos to senior leadership; success = working capability.
- Model velocity (~30 days) — ability to deploy state-of-the-art models within ~30 days of public release becomes a primary acquisition criterion.
- AI-First is mandatory — plug-and-play AI components; interfaces documented well enough to integrate without prime involvement.
- Builders over administrators — small empowered teams, forward-deployed engineers, rapid learning loops.
What this means for SNC
- Prove replaceability — define AI-First interfaces for every AI component (data access, model service, UI/workflow integration, logging/telemetry).
- Move approvals left — treat secure delivery paths and evidence packs as deliverables.
- Run an 8–12 week ignition cohort — produce internal builders who can repeat the pattern, not a one-off demo.
- Stand up a model-velocity pipeline — eval harness + wrappers + swap-ready architecture so model upgrades are routine, not hero work.
- Monthly capability board — demos in the workflow; acceptance criteria tied to adoption, latency, error rates, and mission outcomes.