U.S. Naval War College students and faculty discuss uses, potential of artificial intelligence

The U.S. Naval War College (NWC) held a series of lectures and workshops on artificial intelligence (AI) for incoming students and for faculty members on July 30 and 31, 2026, respectively.
“The Naval War College is a place where military leaders can learn how to use AI to optimize their effectiveness as warfighters,” said NWC President Rear Adm. Darryl Walker. “AI can provide crystal clear battlespace awareness and lightning-fast calculations to assist operational and tactical commanders so they can move faster and more decisively. The forces who master AI will be the most successful in conflict deep into the future.”
Dr. Amanda Rosen, professor of teaching and learning at the NWC’s Teaching Excellence Center, said the July 31 conference started conceptually as a small gathering of faculty to share best practices amongst themselves. But after she sent out a request to determine interest among colleagues, she received 15 volunteers to present and many more – from not only the Naval War College, but from other U.S. professional military institutions – to attend.
“Interest just kept growing and growing and now we have 265 (registered to take part),” she said.
Rosen – who is organizing the July 31 conference alongside Dr. Curtis Bell of NWC’s International Programs Department, Dr. Chris Demchak of the Cyber and Innovation Policy Institute (CIPI) and Teaching Excellence Center Director Dr. Kimberly Moreland – said AI can be tasked with coding, role-play simulations, research, and translation, in addition to the more basic editing and schedule management.
“For initial users, a lot of it is about efficiency and offloading menial tasks,” she said. “But it goes beyond that. It also allows us to do things we were never able to before.”
Rosen said Bell pointed out that before AI, anyone could come up with a good idea, but putting those good ideas into practice would often require so much labor or specialized expertise that those innovations would never get past the drawing board.
“We are moving from a period where AI is increasing our efficiency to a place where it’s increasing what is even possible,” she said.
During the faculty conference, sessions were held on AI in adaptive learning, class discussion preparation, design and execution of academic courses, security and multiple talks on the technology’s role in wargaming.
On day earlier, during the student workshops on July 30, talks were held on cybersecurity and law as they pertain to AI, among other topics.
Facilitated by U.S. Navy Cmdr. Jonathan Durham of the Joint Military Operations Department, speakers for the student sessions included representatives of the war college’s Maritime Advanced Warfighting School (MAWS), the military’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office, the Office of the Judge Advocate General and others.
Established in 1884, NWC informs today’s decision-makers and educates tomorrow’s leaders by providing educational experiences and learning opportunities that develop their ability to hedge aggressively, innovate continuously, fight distributively, delegate confidently, and command with clarity within complex battlespaces.