By Erick M.
Over the past year, ActioNet has embraced AI as a transformative force— and with your help, we hosted pilot efforts for ChatGPT and Co-Pilot, partnered with OpenAI, and established a corporate account that grants our users access to AI-powered bots. Our goal was clear: to orient our employees, build AI competence, and familiarize our teams with these powerful tools. We are achieving just that by integrating AI-driven automation into ServiceNow and offering ChatGPT bots to our employees to streamline their day-to-day activities and improve efficiencies and innovation. As commercially available AI tools continue to reshape industries, a new frontier emerges; how Large Language Models (LLMs) and compute power are disrupting national security and the DoD.
The AI Disruption in Defense
For years, artificial intelligence in national security was limited to classified environments, reliant on custom-built models running on specialized infrastructure. The Department of Defense (DoD) invested heavily in AI research, developing systems that required powerful, restricted computing resources. Fast Forward to the present day, and the rise of consumer-accessible AI has flipped that paradigm. Suddenly, the same tools once exclusive to government agencies are available to anyone with a high-end gaming PC and an internet connection.
Nowhere is this shift more apparent than in the rise of DeepSeek, an AI model that has made waves in the industry. When news broke that DeepSeek was running on NVIDIA’s 4090 GPUs—the same hardware found in gaming rigs—shockwaves spread through the tech world. Some claimed it was a breakthrough, a $6 million open-source project challenging billion-dollar AI firms like OpenAI and Google. But the truth was less revolutionary and more opportunistic. DeepSeek had simply stockpiled consumer-grade GPUs before the U.S. imposed trade restrictions, allowing it to scale rapidly while others scrambled for hardware.
This has left the defense sector grappling with a pressing question: if adversaries can build innovative AI with consumer hardware, how does the U.S. maintain its strategic edge? An executive order – REMOVING BARRIERS TO AMERICAN AI INNOVATION.
This executive order means that the U.S. government has recognized the role commercial innovation, (in this case AI) plays in national security and economic growth. A new Executive Order issued in January 2025 is eliminating bureaucratic barriers and accelerating AI adoption, calling for:
- The revision of outdated AI policies that have slowed private-sector development.
- Prioritization of AI in national security and economic strategy.
- The development of a Federal AI Action Plan to maintain U.S. leadership.
For ActioNet, this is an opportunity to be at the forefront of AI-driven government solutions. We are already prioritizing and investing in AI for briefings, automation, employee and customer self-service support and cybersecurity. All of these activities leverage Artificial Intelligence and is shaping the way federal agencies adopt and secure AI. Every time we provide over-the-shoulder support, guiding our customers in adopting AI into their daily operations, we are actively implementing the new executive order. These moments in our daily, weekly, or monthly reports to customers have accelerated fulfilling Mission Objectives and reduced redundancies.
ActioNet’s AI-Driven Mission
For ActioNet, our mission is not to simply follow AI trends, it is to lead, and that starts by arming you with AI tools that enhance your expertise and expand your capabilities. AI is no longer confined to elite research labs or DoD-backed initiatives—today, it must be accessible to every professional, not just data scientists or specialized teams. That is why we have empowered our employees with AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, not just as a convenience, but to lower the barrier to advanced problem-solving. Whether it involves briefings, in progress reviews (IPRs), financial reports, sifting through vast amounts of documentation to find key insights, or solving problems that customers have had for a long time but lacked the labor to do it. AI can make these processes faster and more efficient. Our goal is to create ready-made AI tools that reduce manual workloads and give employees more time to focus on high-value work.
Many have become the go-to experts for tools like Power BI, streamlining analytics and decision-making. AI is the natural next step. We can quickly get to the point of automating repetitive tasks, accelerating problem solving and help customers achieve results faster than ever before. Whether we are summarizing massive reports in minutes or providing over-the-shoulder support on AI-driven insights, our growing expertise in AI is already making a difference.
Securing the Future with AI
AI is more than just a tool. It is a strategic advantage. From optimizing workflows to protecting critical infrastructure, the responsible application of AI will define the next decade of innovation.
The AI landscape is changing rapidly, and the question is not whether AI will reshape national security—it already has.