The Defence Team’s inaugural AI in Defence conference: Strengthening partnerships and accelerating operational capability

The Defence Team's inaugural AI in Defence conference: Strengthening partnerships and accelerating operational capability

June 03, 2026 - Defence Stories

Estimated read time: 1:38

The inaugural Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Defence Conference marked an important step forward in how the Defence Team is advancing AI. Held February 9-10, in Ottawa, ON, the conference brought together key partners to discuss the delivery of AI capabilities within the Defence Team.

Bringing the Defence AI community together

Hosted by the DND/CAF AI Centre within the Digital Services Group (DSG), in partnership with the Mobilizing Insights in Defence and Security (MINDS) program and with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, the conference was attended by over 200 participants from across the Defence Team, Canadian industry, academia, and other Government of Canada departments.

Designed as a catalyst for collaboration, the event focused on strengthening partnerships, sharing insights, lessons learned, and accelerating the delivery of AI-enabled operational advantage across the Defence Team.

Turning strategy into capability

The conference directly supported the DND/CAF's AI Strategy objective of becoming an AI-enabled enterprise by 2030.

Discussions focused on building a shared understanding of Defence AI priorities, strengthening relationships, and creating the conditions needed to accelerate capability development. A central theme was the transition from exploration to application - advancing AI solutions that directly enhance operational readiness, decision advantage, and decision-making.

Keynote speakers and panel discussions highlighted the importance of modern digital foundations, adaptive procurement approaches, and early engagement with partners. Speakers also underscored the need to build trust through clear governance, transparency, and sustained collaboration to responsibly operationalize AI capabilities at speed and scale.

Participants engaged in targeted discussion groups exploring practical AI applications across priority areas, including cyber defence, logistics, command and control, and Arctic operations. These sessions brought together diverse perspectives from across the Defence Team, industry, and academia - generating actionable ideas, highlighting emerging challenges along with opportunities, and identifying pathways to advance capability development.

Looking ahead: Scaling impact and collaboration

With its focus on real-world applications, the success of this year's inaugural conference facilitates future collaboration and partnerships and builds momentum to deliver AI operational capability at speed and at scale.

Planning is already underway for the next AI in Defence Conference in 2027, with an ambition to expand into an international forum that brings together allies and partners to further accelerate the development, responsible adoption, and deployment of defence AI capabilities.