A new lab on the cutting edge of defense planning is set to change how the United States tests strategy against evolving threats.

GenWar Lab is scheduled to open in 2026 at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, and its mission is to modernize tabletop exercises by using the speed and user friendliness of generative AI.

By bringing generative tools into the wargaming arena, this effort aims to make simulations more dynamic and accessible for decision makers.

The emphasis is clear. The lab’s goal is to harness the power of generative AI to make wargames more interactive and faster. “We’ve heard a demand signal from our sponsors of the need to do wargaming faster,” Kevin Mather, who heads the GenWar Lab, said.

Here's What They're Not Telling You About Your Retirement

“The ability to get more in depth, the ability sometimes to be able to include modeling and simulation and do what-if analysis.”

Among the innovations is direct interaction with behind the scenes computer models. “Let’s rewind the gameplay and go back one turn,” said GenWar Lab program manager Kelly Diaz, who discussed a hypothetical scenario.

“We’re going to retry that move. And because it’s all digital, we’ll have a log. Afterward for the post-game analytics, we can kind of trace through how the decisions were being made.”

The lab also envisions a future where AI agents can play the role of staff advisers or even enemy leaders. “As a human, you give your commands: ‘I’d like to attack here, I’d like to defend there,’” explained Mather.

This Could Be the Most Important Video Gun Owners Watch All Year

“We’ve built code in the modeling and sim engine to read from that database layer and automatically execute those commands.”

Yet the team is clear-eyed about AI reliability. “We won’t remotely claim that they’re making optimal decisions,” Mather said. Still, the potential lies in accelerating learning and expanding strategic exploration.

“It’s not nearly as in depth, for example, as a traditional ops analysis or modeling and sim study,” Mather said. But AI can offer “those 70% to 80% solutions that are not the answer, but really accelerate the human learning,” he added.

There is also a healthy skepticism about how AI should relate to strategic analysis.

Benjamin Jensen, a researcher at the Center for International and Strategic, believes AI can enhance wargames — if properly documented and evaluated.

He noted that the risk is “we find strategic analysis reduced to, ‘Here is what an LLM said,’” he said. The caution is warranted, given the high stakes involved in statecraft and national security policy.

“The larger challenge is that most foundation models commonly used haven’t been sufficiently benchmarked against strategy and statecraft,” Jensen said.

“So, using AI to support game design, development and execution is a great idea. The question is how far that use goes and how well it is documented to avoid common pitfalls.”

Despite the caution, the approach is popular among defense thinkers who want faster feedback loops.

The GenWar Lab’s creation reflects a broader conviction that technology can multiply human judgment without replacing it. The ultimate aim is to deliver practical, repeatable insights that help commanders learn more quickly from each exercise.

Supporters of this path argue that it aligns with a strong U.S. commitment to modernize military readiness. Under President Trump, proponents would say, the push for rapid, credible wargaming fits his emphasis on decisive, visible strength.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has championed faster decision cycles and more robust testing of ideas before they reach the battlefield. The lab’s approach shows exactly that spirit in action, combining tradition with new tools to sharpen strategic thinking.

In the end, GenWar Lab seeks to be a bridge between century old wargaming practices and cutting edge artificial intelligence.

It respects the value of human judgment while recognizing that AI can broaden the range of possible outcomes explored in each exercise.

The hope is that this collaboration will yield more informed, more resilient policy choices when real world decisions must be made under pressure.

The project will continue to refine how AI is used, with a careful eye on documentation and accountability. It remains to be seen how far the technology can take wargaming, but the direction is unmistakable.

The defense community is moving toward faster, more data rich exploration of strategies, and GenWar Lab stands at the forefront of that shift.

Warning: Account balances and purchasing power no longer tell the same story. Know in 2 minutes if your retirement is working for you.