DoD CDAO: Government Agencies Entering 'Third Inning' of AI Value Realization

The Department of Defense is moving past the initial experimentation phase of artificial intelligence and is now entering a period of operational scaling. This transition marks a critical shift in how the federal government extracts tangible value from its AI investments.

During an Aug. 29 panel at the AFCEA/INSA Intelligence and National Security Summit, Cameron Stanley, the Chief Digital & Artificial Intelligence Officer (CDAO) for the War Department, stated that agencies are currently in the "bottom of the second, top of the third inning" regarding their ability to capitalize on AI's value. The baseball metaphor describes a maturity curve where the early "innings" of pilot programs and theoretical testing are giving way to the realization of scalable, real-world utility.

From Experimentation to Operation

For several years, AI adoption within government agencies has been characterized by fragmented pilot projects and isolated proofs-of-concept. The CDAO's current mandate is to accelerate the integration of data, analytics, and AI across the DoD to ensure these tools move from the lab to the field. The "third inning" represents the point where the infrastructure is sufficiently mature to support wide-scale deployment rather than limited trials.

To illustrate this leap in capability, Stanley cited Operation Epic Fury in Iran. He noted that AI-assisted operations allowed the military to process over 1,000 targets per day. This represents a staggering increase over the previous doctrinal capacity, which was limited to just 13-14 targets per day. This specific example underscores the difference between incremental improvement and the exponential force multiplication provided by integrated AI.

Industry Implications

This shift toward operational integration signals a changing market for government contractors and technology providers. As agencies move into this new phase, the demand is expected to pivot away from small-scale prototypes and toward scalable AI infrastructure and robust governance frameworks. The focus is no longer on whether AI works, but on how to deploy it securely and consistently across the entire enterprise.

The Path Forward

As the DoD and other agencies push further into this operational phase, the primary challenge will be maintaining this momentum across diverse departments with varying levels of digital maturity. Observers will be watching for how the CDAO standardizes these AI-assisted workflows to ensure that the gains seen in specific operations, like those in Iran, can be replicated across other theaters of operation and administrative functions.