Warfighters, Not Engineers, Decide What AI Can Be Trusted

The U.S. military's slow and bureaucratic acquisition process threatens to hinder the effective adoption of Artificial Intelligence. Who defines "trustworthy AI" will determine its success, with competing views from engineers focused on technical assurance, lawyers on compliance, and warfighters on operational reliability. Without prioritizing the warfighter's definition of trust, the Department of Defense risks developing expensive, complex AI systems that are useless in actual combat. Therefore, operator-defined trust—measured by performance, reliability, and ease of use in battlefield conditions—must become the central standard for AI procurement to ensure it becomes a true force multiplier.