Air Force sunsetting NIPRGPT generative AI platform by Dec. 31

In the wake of the recent release of the Defense Department’s new enterprise artificial intelligence platform, the Air Force is deactivating its experimental generative AI chatbot known as NIPRGPT months earlier than originally planned, DefenseScoop has learned.

The department intends to sunset NIPRGPT on Dec. 31 “upon the conclusion of the current contract,” according to a memo from the Department of the Air Force Chief Data and AI Office that was sent to staff earlier this month and obtained by DefenseScoop. Before the platform is decommissioned, the DAF is instructing users to shift their operations and data to the Pentagon’s new GenAI.mil tool or other approved systems.

Developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory, NIPRGPT was released in 2024 to allow personnel to experiment with generative AI capabilities on the Pentagon’s Non-classified Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRNet). At the time of its launch, officials said the platform would be an “experimental bridge” between the services to demonstrate how AI tools could be used to assist workflows.

The DAF originally planned to sunset NIPRGPT in 2026. But with the introduction of GenAI.mil on Dec. 9, users were given just three weeks and minimal guidance on how to transfer their data and workflows from NIPRGPT into alternative platforms. 

“We recognize that GenAI.mil may not meet every specific need, and the DAF CDAO is actively working to identify and address any gaps to enable mission-specific solutions,” the memo stated.

NIPRGPT is a set of commercial tools integrated by industry in coordination with AFRL, a DAF spokesperson told DefenseScoop. Like other popular commercial AI models, the platform allows users to submit queries for responses, generate text and receive other assistance for daily operations — but without common security concerns presented by commercial artificial intelligence systems.

While the program is run by the Department of the Air Force, personnel from the other services can also access NIPRGPT tools. The spokesperson noted that during its development and pilot phase, more than 700,000 people across the DOD used the platform.

NIPRGPT “was instrumental in collecting real-world usage data for the Department of the Air Force, which also informed the Department of War’s overall GenAI adoption strategy and risk posture,” the spokesperson said, using a secondary name authorized by the Trump administration to refer to the Department of Defense.

GenAI.mil is a purpose-built platform designed to provide commercial artificial intelligence tools to the Pentagon’s entire workforce, starting with Google Cloud’s Gemini for Government products. The effort is part of a larger push across the department to scale AI usage among personnel. 

Once NIPRGPT is inactive, chat history and workspaces within NIPRGPT will no longer be available, while files and documents uploaded into the platform will not automatically migrate into GenAI.mil, the memo stated. Any official products created using NIPRGPT — such as memos or slides — should already be stored in the DAF’s authoritative repositories by default, it added.

The CDAO directive noted that the department will send “more guidance, necessary stop-gaps, and long-term mission solutions” surrounding NIPRGPT data in the near future. But in the meantime, those “who have critical content that exists only in NIPRGPT should export or reconstitute it and store it in official repositories” before the platform is shut down. 

Despite the shortened transition timeline, the Air Force has not provided an export tool to assist users in extracting their data and workflows stored on NIPRGPT and transferring it to GenAI.mil. Furthermore, the memo sent by the department did not include clear guidance on what will happen to that stored data once the platform is decommissioned. 

“As with any Department of the Air Force system with an Authority to Operate, data handling follows established records management, cybersecurity, and data governance policies,” the DAF spokesperson said. “The Department of the Air Force is finalizing the documented disposition and transition plan in compliance with Committee on National Security Systems Instruction 1253 and National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-53 standards.”