ORLANDO, Fla. – An AI-powered onboarding assistant designed to help new Space Force members navigate the earliest stages of service has won the U.S. Space Force’s annual AI Challenge, senior officials said last week, highlighting the tool as an example of how service members can apply artificial intelligence to practical, internal problems.
The winning entry, known as the Polaris Onboarding Agent, is a digital guide that provides interactive, conversational answers to common questions new guardians face. The tool covers administrative requirements, training paths, policies, benefits and Space Force-specific terminology, with answers tailored to a user’s role, timing and status in the onboarding process.
Instead of relying on static checklists, PDFs, or informal handoffs between offices, Polaris uses an AI assistant model to guide users through tasks and decisions as they arise. Senior leaders described the approach as a low-risk way to improve efficiency while reducing confusion for new staff.
“Automation must be part of everything we do,” Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told an audience of Space Force officials at the Spacepower conference, where the results of the challenge were highlighted.
The Space Force AI Challenge is an annual competition designed to accelerate the development and adoption of AI tools that address real-world problems facing the service. According to Space Force officials, 29 teams participated in the 2025 challenge.
Meink called on the service to build AI literacy within the force, rather than relying primarily on contractors for AI-driven solutions.
“I love our supporting contractors. They’re phenomenal, right? And we have a lot of them supporting us in this area,” Meink said. “But you have to be experts,” he added. “If you don’t understand how large language models work, you should start playing with GenAI,” he said, referring to a recently introduced Pentagon AI platform.
“You have to be able to generate automated applications for what you want to do,” says Meink. “We can’t just turn to a contract… we need those skills in everything we do.”
The Polaris Onboarding Agent was developed by Order66, a software factory within Space Systems Command. Software factories across the Department of Defense are designed to quickly build and field digital tools with the help of government and military developers, often focusing on internal processes rather than operational systems.
The AI Challenge and the Polaris Project align with a broader Department of Defense effort to operationalize artificial intelligence within the military, particularly in unclassified, administrative and decision support roles.
That effort includes GenAI.mil, a secure enterprise platform designed to give service members and civilian workers access to commercial generative AI tools, such as Google’s Gemini for Government. The platform aims to integrate generative AI into daily workflows while maintaining security controls for unclassified and controlled unclassified information.
Defense officials have emphasized that early AI adoption efforts are aimed at improving internal efficiency and readiness, while allowing the department to build experience with the technology before applying it to higher-risk operational missions.
