Winning the AI Race

Presented by Cyware & Carahsoft

Artificial intelligence is reshaping how nations project power and defend against threats. Tom Stockmeyer, Managing Director for Government and Critical Infrastructure at Cyware, believes that success in the emerging “AI age” will determine not only military outcomes but also geopolitical balance. At TechNet Augusta, he described why the United States must win the AI race and how both offense and defense will depend on it.

Stockmeyer begins with history. The United States led the world through the industrial age and the internet age, he argues, and now faces the test of the AI age. To succeed, the nation must allow innovation to flourish. He warns against heavy-handed regulation that could slow down American creativity and limit the private sector’s ability to develop new solutions. In his view, no group is better positioned to innovate than the American people, and enabling them to move quickly will be essential if the U.S. is to remain ahead of adversaries.

Winning the AI race, however, is about more than speed. Stockmeyer breaks it down into offensive and defensive capabilities. On offense, AI offers the ability to automate attacks on adversary infrastructure, disrupt military operations, and project power in ways that overwhelm opponents. In a world where milliseconds matter, automating offensive capabilities could mean the difference between seizing the initiative and falling behind. Nations that fail to harness AI for offensive operations, he cautions, will be at a serious disadvantage.

On defense, AI is equally transformative. Stockmeyer points to challenges that both the Department of Defense and private industry face in defending critical infrastructure: limited skilled personnel, high turnover, siloed teams, and slow response times. Traditional security operations centers rely heavily on human analysts whose expertise and consistency can vary widely. By applying AI, organizations can automate detection, triage alerts, and respond to threats faster and more effectively. This does not eliminate the need for humans but enhances their ability to focus on the most pressing problems.

He also envisions a future of “collective defense,” where AI systems across multiple platforms and organizations coordinate automatically to defend against threats. Rather than relying on manual processes, phone calls, or delayed coordination, AI could take charge of certain defensive actions in real time, ensuring that the right weapons platform or system mitigates an attack immediately. For the military, this could mean AI-enabled coordination across air, land, sea, cyber, and space assets. For critical infrastructure, it could mean automatic protection of energy, water, transportation, and other essential systems.

Stockmeyer acknowledges that such a vision is ambitious and potentially unsettling. The idea of AI taking direct control of weapons or infrastructure raises legitimate concerns. That is why he stresses the importance of rigorous testing, planning, and auditing. He cites examples of state and local governments that have successfully introduced AI in narrow, well-defined use cases, such as automating property tax adjudication. By starting small, involving stakeholders from across the organization, and testing extensively before going live, they were able to build confidence and scale AI responsibly.

This crawl-walk-run approach, Stockmeyer argues, is exactly what the Department of Defense must adopt. By choosing specific use cases, planning carefully, involving legal and regulatory oversight, and testing with both dummy and real data, defense organizations can deploy AI safely and effectively. Auditing, logging, and oversight must be built into every deployment to ensure transparency and prevent abuse.

Ultimately, Stockmeyer’s message is that the United States cannot afford to be second in the AI race. If adversaries gain the upper hand, they will dictate the terms of both offense and defense in future conflicts. Winning requires unleashing innovation at home while deploying AI responsibly in defense settings. By combining American ingenuity with disciplined testing and ethical safeguards, the U.S. can lead in the AI age just as it has in earlier eras of technological transformation.

The stakes are high. For Stockmeyer, AI is not simply a tool but a decisive factor in national security. Success will depend on empowering innovators, integrating AI into both offensive and defensive operations, and ensuring that every step is taken with care. The AI race is already underway, and the outcome will shape the future of global power.