Military service members to square off against AI in ‘Mindgame’ tournament
Selected U.S. Marines and other members of the joint force are expected to go head-to-head against an AI-controlled adversary later this year in wargames that involve drone swarms and carrier strike groups, according to an administrative message released Wednesday.
The so-called “Mindgame Tournament” will be conducted online via Marine Corps University’s Wargaming Cloud and use Command Professional Edition software.
“This tournament is a pathway event towards integrating Super Intelligence into wargaming by leveraging an autonomous agent to act as a highly trained adversary in digital wargames versus humans,” officials wrote in the Marine Corps announcement, using the Trump administration’s preferred name for artificial intelligence.
“The AI you’ll face is not a scripted computer opponent. Developed by Strategy Robot … it uses advanced strategic-reasoning and computational game-theory techniques to generate, evaluate, and adapt courses of action against a thinking adversary. Rather than following a predetermined playbook, the AI continuously assesses the battlespace, anticipates opponent actions, and adjusts its strategy as the game unfolds. In this tournament, players will not simply be competing against the simulation—they will be competing against an AI designed to think strategically, adapt under uncertainty, and actively try to outmaneuver them,” the message added.
Human participants will also be given access to an after-action review tool that features a large language model. The technology will allow them to “interact conversationally” with the LLM and use game data to identify their strengths and weaknesses and figure out ways to improve their decision-making.
Active and reserve members of the military, government civilians and defense contractors can apply to participate in the tournament via an MCU website. Applications are due Nov. 14. The tournament is scheduled to begin Dec. 1 and run through April 1, 2027.
Unspecified “prizes” will be awarded to the top performers, according to the announcement.
