If someone thought the FY 2025 NDAA had a good amount of AI provisions in it, the finalized S.1071 – National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026 surpasses it with nearly triple the number of AI-related measures in DoD’s latest annual authorization bill

I have been tracking the evolution of the FY 2026 NDAA and noting the prominence of AI and AI-related technology provisions within the legislation. Looking at the final bill, which was passed on December 18th, nearly all AI provisions from the drafts made it into the final version, plus a few more.

The AI provisions in the final FY 2026 NDAA highlight DOD’s commitment to implementing AI governance through the creation of certain groups to develop frameworks, standards and strategies. The latest bill also pursues several pilot programs to initiate AI into different aspects of operations throughout the department, and underscores the use of commercial AI technologies. Additionally, the FY 2026 NDAA places a strong emphasis on AI and cybersecurity, particularly focusing on safeguarding against adversarial AI threats.

Below is a list of AI and AI-related provisions from the FY 2026 NDAA relevant to contractors, with new measures identified that were absent from the draft House and Senate versions.

Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation

• Section 224, National Security and Defense Artificial Intelligence Institute: Directs the Secretary of Defense to establish one or more institutes focused on AI R&D for national security and defense applications.
• (NEW) Section 245, Biological Data for Artificial Intelligence: Addresses the requirements of biological data in AI applications, with a focus on biotechnology integration with AI systems.

Operation and Maintenance

• Section 347, Integration of Commercially Available Artificial Intelligence Capabilities into Logistics Operations: Directs DOD to integrate commercial AI tools into logistics through two pilot programs in FY 2026 and prioritizes agile systems and small/nontraditional contractors.  
• Section 350, Pilot Program for Data-Enabled Ground Vehicle Maintenance: Requires Army, Navy and the Air Force to launch pilot programs within 90 days to use commercial AI to improve ground vehicle maintenance.

Military Personnel Policy

• Section 547, Pilot Program for Generative Artificial Intelligence and Spatial Computing for Performance Training and Proficiency Assessment: Instructs Navy to establish a pilot program to train military personnel and assess their proficiency.

General Provisions

• Section 1007, Use of Technology Using Artificial Intelligence to Facilitate Audit of the Financial Statements of DOD for FY 2026: Authorizes use of AI technologies to support and improve the audit process for DOD financial statements.
• Section 1234, Research, Development, Test and Evaluation of Emerging Technologies to Further the Warfighting Capabilities of the U.S. and Certain Partner Countries: Establishes an emerging technology cooperation program with Israel and other partner countries for joint research, development, test and evaluation in areas of AI, cybersecurity, robotics, quantum and automation to further the warfare capabilities.

Cyberspace-Related Matters

• Section 1512, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Security in the DOD: Requires DOD to establish a department-wide cybersecurity and governance policy for AI and ML within 180 days to include lifecycle security, industry standards, workforce training and protections against AI-specific threats.
• Section 1513, Physical and Cybersecurity Procurement Requirements for Artificial Intelligence Systems: Mandates the development of a risk-based framework for implementing cyber and security standards for AI and ML systems, including workforce risks, AI-specific threats, supply chain risks, adversarial tampering and data theft.
• (NEW) Section 1515, Incorporation of Artificial Intelligence Considerations into Cybersecurity Training: Requires the integration of AI-related topics and considerations into cybersecurity training programs for personnel.
• Section 1532, Guidance and Prohibition on Use of Certain Artificial Intelligence: Provides guidance on acceptable use and prohibitions of specific AI systems that post security risks (i.e. DeepSeek or High Fiver) in DOD contracts. Any waivers are limited to research, national security analysis or mission-critical functions.
• Section 1533, Artificial Intelligence Model Assessment and Oversight: Directs the creation of a cross-functional team led by the CAIO to create a standardized framework for assessing, governing and approving AI model development, testing and deployment.
• Section 1534, Digital Sandbox Environments for Artificial Intelligence: Requires DOD to establish a task force to develop and coordinate isolated AI sandbox computing environments for experimentation, training and AI development.
• Section 1535, Artificial Intelligence Futures Steering Committee: Creates the committee for various activities such as to forming DOD’s long-term AI strategy on AI evaluation, adoption, governance and risk management of advanced AI systems, analyzing the trajectory of advanced AI systems and emerging AI technologies, analyzing the effects of integrating advanced AI into networks, and developing a strategy for risk-informed adoption of Aim among others.

Intelligence Community

• (NEW) Section 6601, Artificial Intelligence Security Guidance: Requires the development of security guidance specifically for AI systems used by the Intelligence Community (IC).
• Section 6602, Artificial Intelligence Development and Usage by IC: Requires the IC to track and evaluate performance of procured and agency-developed AI and to scale commonly used AI tools and evaluate commercially available AI in classified environments.
• (NEW) Section 6603, Application of AI Policies of the IC to Publicly Available Models Hosted in Classified Environments: Establishes testing standards and benchmarks for public AI models when used in classified IC environments.

Matters Relating to Foreign Countries

• Section 6616, Strategy for Addressing AI Gaps Relating to China’s Investment in United States-Origin Biotechnology: Requires the development of an intelligence strategy to gaps in understanding China’s investments in U.S. biotechnology companies particularly related to AI-enabled biotechnology.
• (NEW) Section 6703, Prohibition on IC Contracting with Chinese Military Companies Engaged in Biotechnology R&D or Manufacturing: Prohibits the IC from contracting with Chinese military companies in AI applications in biotechnology.
• (NEW) Section 6708, National Intelligence Estimate of Advancements in Biotechnology by China: Directs preparations of a National Intelligence Estimate assessing China's biotechnology advancements, including AI-enabled biotechnology capabilities.

Provisions included in the draft versions but that did not make final bill include a requirement in the Senate’s version to accelerate the development of an Information Fusion platform using AI to detect threats and deliver domain awareness and early warning capabilities among missile defense systems. Moreover, the House version included a provision directing the establishment of 2 to 12 generative AI efforts to enhance U.S. national security.